All 50 states now provide some checkbook-level government spending information online, a national consumer group has found.
That’s up from only 32 states that provided such information in 2009, according to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group’s 2013 Following the Money report. The seven states that received A or A-minus grades for spending transparency have user-friendly, searchable websites with checkbook-level information about contracts, grants, tax credits and often about subsidies. Six out of the seven states include copies of contracts.
States that received an A or A-minus grade were Texas, Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Oklahoma.
States that received an F were Wyoming, Wisconsin, Hawaii, California and North Dakota. Those states’ spending websites are “limited and hard to use” and don’t provide information about public benefits of economic development subsidies broken down by recipient or make tax expenditure reports available.