The growing sentiment among lawmakers and the public for a major state tax overhaul is the best reason yet to support a bill that creates a politically neutral oversight office to analyze and report on the effects of currents programs and pending legislation. Maine is one of only six states without such an office and its absence is felt whenever lawmakers are forced to rely largely on information from advocates and opponents of various proposals.

LD 2193, which would create the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability, received enthusiastic support from the State and Local Government Committee, which voted 13-0 in favor, and deserves a swift and fair vote in the House. Lawmakers who want impartial data they can rely on for decisions, members of the public who want to know how well (or poorly) a particular program is working, agency officials who need to make a case that their efforts are justified should all support this measure. It represents a new level of access to the inner workings of state government.

The proposed office amounts to a state-level General Accounting Office for Maine. The GAO is an invaluable part of federal government that provides members of Congress and the public clear, in-depth reports on programs, agencies, spending habits, investments and the thousands of other components of the government. Florida’s version, called the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, was used as a model for the Maine proposal OPPAGA was created in 1994 to conduct policy reviews, analyze the performances under performance-based budgeting and provide an agency accountability report to the public. Through its analysis and advice, Florida government has saved $255 million to date. And at least as valuable as the money are the understanding among state agencies that someone is checking up on them and the confidence among voters that policy experts looking at how tax dollars are spent.

LD 2193 is scrupulously neutral: The legislative committee it establishes includes six House and six Senate members, split evenly between the two major parties; the director appointed to the accountability office is picked by the committee, not majority leadership. And the committee, not leadership, agrees on what the office will investigate. This naturally causes legislative leadership concern about a loss of power, but the best way to ensure the long-term credibility of this office is to build as many firewalls as possible between it and politics.

If Maine really is going to reform its tax system, it will require considerably more information, and more credible information, than it has now. But the need for expert advice is not limited to taxation. Much of the debate in the Legislature could be avoided and better decisions eventually made if opponents on an issue began with mutually accepted data and analysis. And the opportunity for the public to participate in and understand legislative deliberations would increase dramatically if they too could use reliable reports produced by an oversight office.

A vote in the House should confirm the value of this proposal.