Welcome to Transparency Texas, where you can easily follow the money in Texas politics.

Money drives politics. But too often, politicians don’t want you to know what’s going on with the money — where it‘s coming from, and what they’re doing with it.

Just like you, we’ve been frustrated when we’ve tried to find answers. Until now, the “best” sources of information were impossibly hard to navigate, confusing, and unclear.

Politicians, candidates, and Political Action Committees are required by law to make financial reports to the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC), who is, in turn, required to make this information available to us, the citizens. The trouble is, it’s not working in Texas. A recent study by the Campaign Finance Institute found that the TEC’s website came in dead last among all 50 states in several measures. Users complained of confusing terminology and lack of confidence in search results. Yes, Texas ranked 50th out of 50 — that’s not how we do things in Texas!

Whether you believe government collects too much information or whether you believe even more should be disclosed, we can all agree that the rules should apply to everyone equally. If information is made public, it ought to be accessible to everyone, not just political insiders who know how to work the system.

That’s why we built Transparency Texas. We’ve taken all the available data and made it easy to search. We’ve taken all the political jargon and made it easy to understand.

Enjoy the opportunity to get a clear picture of the flow of political money in our great state — and spread the word!