Texas Lawmaker Explorer Launched

The Texas Tribune has launched an online database that allows citizens to investigate their legislators’ financial interests. “The Lawmaker Explorer is a first-of-its-kind interactive tool that gives Texans a window into the personal interests of the state legislators elected to represent them. The Explorer, a nine-month research endeavor, is the linchpin of the Tribune’s Bidness as Usual project, a session-long look at ethics and transparency in Texas’ part-time Legislature. The Texas Tribune‘s interactive tool is designed to educate citizens on the degree to which legislators’ personal interests conflict with the public interest when passing bills and setting policy. It includes extensive research into all 180 current members of the Texas Legislature, plus the governor and lieutenant governor, and provides details on a lawmaker’s employment history and financial records, stock holdings, property listings, campaign finance data and ethics investigations.”