Gov. Tom Wolf today signed into law Senate Bill 644, a historic government transparency reform which empowers the Independent Fiscal Office to estimate government union contracts costs before the contracts are finalized.

Last month, Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled his “Government that Works” plan to reform government contracting and increase transparency. Now, the state Legislature has given Wolf a chance to back up these words with action.

Today, the state House passed SB 644 (108-83) to bring much-needed cost transparency to government union contracts—contracts Governor Wolf is negotiating behind closed doors right now.

Today, Governor Wolf will unveil a new effort to limit campaign contributions as a “transparency” measure. Yet, his own political conflict of interest taints his message.

On Tuesday, the Pa. House passed a “fiscal code” which implements parts of the new state budget. While the fiscal code includes many important reforms that benefit taxpayers, it has also become a political vehicle to satisfy lobbyists’ appetites for earmarks.

If you’ve ever spent hundreds on a smartphone or thousands on a new car, you know what it’s like to hunt for the best deal. Yet when paying for state and local government services worth billions, Americans often hand politicians a blank check without ever knowing if they could get more for their money.

Transparency, openness, and the public’s right to know are critical to holding politicians accountable. But contract negotiations between public-sector unions and state and local government officials worth billions of dollars are closed to public scrutiny. Today, the state Senate took a historic step by passing two financial transparency bills designed to let taxpayers in on those secret negotiations to see how big of a bill they’ll be paying for government services.