A new database unveiled by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure now enables the public to search electronically for member-designated projects submitted by any member of the House of Representatives in legislation that originated from the committee.

Transportation Committee Chairman Congressman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) announced that member-designated projects included in H.R. 5892, “the Water Resources Development Act of 2010”, which was introduced yesterday, and other committee bills are now publicly available on the Committee’s website.

On the first day of the new Democratic majority in 2007 , the House adopted rules to institute specific requirements with regard to member-designated projects:  for each project request, a member of Congress must certify that neither the member nor his or her spouse has a financial interest in the project, and each committee report must identify any congressional earmarks included in the bill.

In 2009, the Transportation Committee adopted a series of member-designated project reform principles to further transparency and accountability.

For legislation originating in the committee, members of Congress must provide specific information on the type, location, total cost, percentage of total cost of the project that the request would finance, and benefits of the project; provide at least one letter of support for the project from state or local government agencies; certify that neither the member nor his or her spouse has any financial interest in a project requested; and post requests for projects on the member’s Web site.

“As Transportation Committee Chairman, I have vigorously enforced the earmark rules instituted by the House, and today [Aug. 2] our committee takes another step in its continuing effort to provide unparalleled transparency and accountability,” Oberstar said in a written press statement. “The new database enables the public to search project requests by the member’s name, state, Congressional district, bill, bill title, and amount.

“Each member-designated project includes the ‘no financial interest’ certification, and beginning with H.R. 5892, the support letter from the state or local government,” Oberstar continued in his statement. “Finally, we make copies of all member-designated project requests available for inspection in the Committee office.”

Although Congressional earmark rules do not apply to certain committee actions, such as corrections bills, Army Corps of Engineers Survey Resolutions, and General Services Administration resolutions, the Transportation Committee has instituted an additional measure of transparency and accountability.