[OpenSpending] New Report to Rank 50 States on Transparency of Spending

Mon Mar 12 13:51:12 UTC 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

March 12, 2012

CONTACT:

Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst for Tax and Budget Policy

617-747-4351, phineas at pirg.org

Ryan Pierannunzi, Tax and Budget Associate

617-747-4315, rpierannunzi at pirg.org

NEW REPORT TO RANK 50 STATES ON TRANSPARENCY OF SPENDING

WHAT:  The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) will release a
new report, "Following the Money 2012: How the 50 States Rate in Providing
Online Access to Government Spending Data," evaluating each state on how
well it provides spending information online and assigning them with "A" to
"F" letter grades.

Several states have made significant progress toward checkbook-level
transparency since last year's report
<http://uspirg.org/reports/usp/following-money-2011> , which generated
hundreds of media stories, as well as press statements from five governors.
The report's release comes in the middle of "Sunshine Week
<http://www.sunshineweek.org/> ," an initiative coordinated by the American
Society of News Editors. While the report comes to many conclusions about
how well individual states provide public access to spending information, it
does not find any partisan pattern. The data shows that neither Democratic
nor Republican-leaning states are more likely to have a high transparency
score.

The report includes a colorful map and cover art.

WHO: Ryan Pierannunzi, Tax and Budget Associate, U.S. PIRG

WHEN:  Wednesday, March 14, 2012

                7am Eastern, 4am Pacific

U.S. PIRG <http://www.uspirg.org/> , the federation of state Public Interest
Research Groups, is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy
organization.

Follow us on Twitter <http://www.twitter.com/USPIRG>  and Facebook
<http://www.facebook.com/uspirg> .

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