Several published reports and a proposed state Senate bill are drawing attention to the fact that elected officials in Pennsylvania should face more accountability as to how their campaigns are spending money.

Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa’s proposed legislation would establish campaign donation limits and increase accountability regarding spending by elected officials and those running for office. If passed, it would be the first time the state has had such a rule.

The Eagle recently spoke to state legislators about the bill in the wake of an investigation by Spotlight PA and The Caucus that found lawmakers had kept millions of dollars in campaign spending hidden from public observation.

A total of $3.5 million was spent by state House and Senate candidates between 2016 and 2018 that could not be fully traced based on information provided by office seekers. Charges included everything from sporting event tickets and expensive dinners to country club memberships.

It should come as no surprise that Americans’ trust in their elected officials is at an all-time low. Scan your local newspaper or a national news website and you’ll mostly find stories about politicians bickering — occasionally over issues of value, but more often not.

A Pew Research Center poll in April found that only 17 percent of Americans trust the government in Washington, D.C., to do the right thing. Of that number, a dismal 3 percent believed the government would do what’s right “just about always,” while 14 percent had faith “most of the time.”

That’s pretty pathetic.

State representatives told The Eagle their expenses were within the law — and that’s great to hear. Lawmakers noted that the goal of spending campaign money is to increase their chances of being elected — and that’s obvious.

The law dictates what’s legal, but not necessarily what’s ethical. We hope the bill to address this matter not only strengthens state law, but also increases transparency and leaves less wiggle room for questionable campaign spending.

Several facets of the bill we like include: limiting the expenditures of a candidate, political action committee or political party committee for the purpose of influencing an election’s outcome; requiring disclosure of currently-unlimited campaign contributions; prohibiting campaign funds for personal use; more restrictive rules on out-of-state contributions; and caps on contributions from various persons or entities.

There’s no doubt that more accountability is a good thing. To regain the public trust, the state Legislature should pass a bill that makes the process of campaign spending more restrictive and transparent.