Massachusetts received an “A-” in government spending transparency, according to Following the Money 2012: How the States Rank on Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data, our (MASSPIRG’s) third annual report of its kind. State Treasurer Steven Grossman and Executive Office of Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez accepted a giant report card today for their leadership in making government spending more transparent and accessible to the public.
Out of all 50 states, Massachusetts tied with Louisiana and came in 4th place with a score of 92 and a grade of “A-”. In order to determine how well states provide online access to government spending, each state’s transparency website was analyzed and assigned a grade from zero to 100. The score is based on 13 scoring criteria measuring searchability and the breadth of information provided. Click here to check out the report card and read the release.
I definitely think Treasurer Grossman has done a great job with putting so much of the budget online in the Open Checkbook, and connecting many of his offices to Twitter and Facebook (I’m thinking specifically of how the Unclaimed Property division is now on both social media outlets). Room to get better always, but steps in the right direction for sure. Now if we can only get those DCR contracts up to date!