First Meeting of eTransparency Task Force Held

From Kentucky Public Radio's Tony McVeigh Kentuckians may soon be able to visit a single Internet website to obtain pertinent information about state government.Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Governor Beshear both recently suggested using the Internet to improve public accessibility to state government information, like expenditures. But at the inaugural meeting of the eTransparency Task Force, it was noted that several other states are far ahead of Kentucky in that regard. Texas has had a public information website for 15 years. Grayson admits Kentucky isn’t leading the pack."We are catching up. There is a consensus to go forward. And my hope is we don’t let budget inertia and budgetary issues slow us down," he said.Governor Beshear wants the task force, chaired by Finance Secretary Jonathan Miller, to help develop a one-stop, public information website for the access by the general public. The group’s recommendations are due on the governor’s desk by November 1st.