For a dozen years, state Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington, has pushed state officials and her fellow legislators to adopt a form of budgeting in which programs are only funded if they can show data that proves they are successful.

Many state agencies have fought her idea.

But Urban, who also represents Stonington and co-chairs the General Assembly’s Children’s Committee, has continued her effort and has found some success in establishing the CT Kids Report Card, which uses data to analyze the effectiveness of programs that serve children.

On Wednesday, Urban’s ideas may have gained a new ally, as Gov. Dannel Malloy in his budget address said he wants to implement a version of Urban’s idea.

But while Urban welcomed Malloy’s comments, she said his strategy does not go far enough because it does not first use the data-driven process her results-based budgeting plan uses.

“He’s putting the cart before the horse. Before you do anything, you have to compile the data,” she said, adding that Malloy’s plan gives agency commissioners too much discretion.

“You’re just turning them loose,” she said.

In comments from his office about how he plans to change the way the state budgets, Malloy said state agencies must be held accountable for cost-effectiveness.

He said the state “should move towards outcomes-based funding and contracting — we should judge allocations based on their effectiveness.”

Malloy said technology can help identify outcomes and track costs, and the state should “rely on the creativity and expertise of managers in state government to find the best way to deliver core services.”

He said agency priorities, expenditure information and outcomes will be posted online on a regular basis.

“Transparency and accountability must come hand-in-hand with flexibility. That’s why this budget streamlines agency budgets as well as proposes new business intelligence tools for reporting and evaluating programs and service outcomes across state government,” his office said.

“Its a sea change, what he’s asking for,” Urban said.

She said that changing the ways the state budgets by demanding results proven by data “scares a lot of people.”

“We want to change the budget process so it is data and results driven, and that transition is difficult because we are so married to individual line items which are so political,” she said. “We’re trying to change a culture up there.”

Urban, who was the only legislator to demand an accounting into how the now-defunct Amistad America spent $9 million in state funding, said she’s had to “fight like hell” to get data from state agencies on the effectiveness of their programs that serve children.

“When we drill down into these programs," that scares everybody, she added.

Urban said her Children’s Report Card provides Malloy with a road map for implementing true results-based budgeting backed up by data.

“I know the road. I know how to do it,” she said.

j.wojtas@theday.com

Twitter: @joewojtas