Transparency in Government Spending in the States

Since the passage of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, govenors, state constitutional officers, legislators, think tanks, and taxpayer groups have launched their own efforts to increase transparency in government spending by creating single searchable online databases for government expenditures.
 

Clicke here for a memo outlining spending transparency successes.
 

Legislative and Gubernatorial Action

In the last two years, twelve states have passed spending transparency legislation and five governors issued executive orders to this effect.  More than twenty of these websites created by legislative or executive action are already live, with others expected to launch soon.

Active Websites created in the Wake of the 2006 Federal Legislation
(for more detail visit the respective state page by clicking on the map below)

State	Name of Website	Legal Authority	Date of Enactment	Launch date
AK	Checkbook Online	Executive Action		Jan-08
AL	Open Alabama	EO 46	Feb-09	March-09
CA	Reporting Transparency in Government	EO S-08-09	June-09	June-09
CO	Transparency Project Online (TOP)	HB 1288	June-09	Aug-09
DE	Online Checkbook	Executive Action	May-09	July-09
FL	Transparency Florida	SB 1796	May-09	Jan-10
GA	Open Georgia	SB 300	May-08	Jan-09
IL	Illinois Transparency & Accountability Portal	HB 0035	Aug-09	Aug-09
KS	KanView	HB 2457	June-07	March-08
KY	Kentucky Open Door	EO#2008-0508	June-08	Jan-09
LA	LaTrac	EO Jan-08;  SB 2 March-08	EO Jan-08 SB March-08
MD	Maryland Transparency Website	HB358	May-08	Jan-09
MN	Transparency & Accountability Project Minnesota	HF 376	May-07	March-09
MO	Missouri Accountability Portal (MAP)	EO 7-24	July-08	July-08
MS	Mississippi Executive Resource Library and Information Network	HB 101	April-08	2008
NC	NC OpenBook	EO 4	Jan-09	March-09
NJ	NJ Online Checkbook	Executive Action	Jan-10	Jan-10
NV	Nevada Open Government Initiative	EO-2008-03-18	March-08	Jan-09
OH	Ohio Transparency	HB 420	Dec-08	Dec-09
OK	OpenBooks OK	SB 1	June-07	Dec-07
SC	SC Spending Transparency	EO 2007-14	Aug-07	March-08
SD	Open SD	Executive Action	Sep-08	Sep-08
TN	TN Open Government	Executive Action	May-09	May-09
TX	Window on State Government	HB 3430	Summer-07	gradual rollout in 2007
UT	Utah Public Finance Website	SB 38	March-08	May-09
VA	Open.Virginia.Gov	SB 934	March-05	Nov-05
WA	Washington State Fiscal Information	SB 6818	Apr-08	Dec-08
WY	Transparency in Wyoming Government	HB 144	March-09	Oct-09

 

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State Constitutional Officer Efforts

But state constitutional officers, too have taken the issue into their own hands, and have begun to create websites detailing information on government expenditures.  The level of detail and breadth of information varies from state to state, but all of these efforts provide an important step in the right direction and serve as catalysts for greater spending transparency in their respective states.

Websites Created by State Constitutional Officers
(for more information visit the respective state page by clicking on the map below)

State	Website	State Constitutional Officer Hosting Website
AZ	State Shared Revenue Distributions Databases	State Treasurer Dean Martin
GA	Transparency in Government Project, agency expenditures	Secretary of State Karen Handel
IL	Illinois Open Book,  state contracts/campaign contributions	State Comptroller Dan Hynes
KY	Check It Out Kentucky, agency expenditures	Secretary of State Trey Grayson
MI	Agency expenditures, secretary of state	Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land
MI	Agency expenditures, attorney general	Attorney General Mike Cox
NE	Nebraska Spending, state expenditure information	State Treasurer Shane Osborn
NY	Open Book New York, state expenditures, agency outlays	State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli
NY	Project Sunlight, state expenditures, political giving	Attorney General Andrew Cuomo
PA	Pennsylvania Contracts e-Library	State Treasurer Robin L. Wiessmann
RI	Treasury Checkbook Online	State Treasurer Frank DiCaprio
RI	DOA Transparency Portal	Department of Administration

 

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State Think Tank and Grassroots Efforts

Many state think tanks, sometimes due to reluctance on the part of their governments to open their books to public scrutiny, sometimes as a way to complement and highlight government efforts, have begun to create their own transparency projects.  While not all of these projects focus exclusively on "spending transparency" in its strictest terms - some of them focusing on transparency in voting, for example - all of them play an important roll in the effort to increase government accountability through transparency. 

For more information visit the respective state pages by clicking on the map below and visit the Resources page.
 

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Spending Transparency Around The Country: