I have made transparency in government a focus of my efforts in the South Carolina Senate, because the voters told me that's important. The first bill I introduced in the Senate was to require my fellow legislators to put their names on requests for funding for local projects, also known as earmarks. It's another way to keep them from hiding how they spend taxpayers' money.

Now it's time to take the next step to make your elected officials even more accountable.

Under current General Assembly rules, many important bills are decided on a voice vote. A voice vote gives legislators a chance to hide under the cover of anonymity. Often, it's easier to find a lost sock than to find out how a legislator voted.

There's a solution for this problem: "roll call" votes. The clerk calls the roll, and each legislator has to say exactly how he or she votes on each bill. Currently, roll call votes are held in the General Assembly about 5 percent of the time, according to the South Carolina Policy Council, a nonpartisan public policy research foundation.

On many bills, voice votes are fine; without them, we would get bogged down on less-critical legislation. However, on significant spending bills, it's time to make legislators more accountable by asking for roll call votes.

A bill requiring that kind of vote will be introduced in the House and the Senate by others, but I will be one of the first to sign on. It's a good idea whose time has come.

However, until the bill passes, I'm going to demand a roll call on each bill that requires a significant expenditure of state funds.

These steps -- requiring names on earmarks and roll calls on major spending bills -- are critical steps to bringing some trust back into state government.

Too often, I hear people say that they don't trust politicians, and who can blame them? We have set up systems that allow us to hide the truth.

There's more -- a lot more -- we have to do to improve state government. However, I believe in giving voters more information while holding politicians accountable. I know you demand no less.

If you have opinion on these or other issues, you can contact me at (803) 480-0419, e-mail (shanemassey@scsenate.org) or regular mail (P.O. Box 551, Edgefield, SC 29824). Or just pull me aside when you see me.

Shane Massey, of Edgefield, represents South Carolina's Senate District 25. He is opposed in the November general election by Democrat Greg Anderson, also of Edgefield.