While you can make a good living poking fun at the Texas legislature (just ask the late, great Molly Ivins), apparently the great state of Texas can claim one serious distinction: According to a new survey of state government information online, released for the start of Sunshine Week, Texas is the only state to provide information in twenty key categories.
Most states do provide online information on high-profile topics like campaign financing and school test scores. But only nine provide schools’ building inspections and/or safety ratings, and only 13 share school bus inspection reports. And the patchwork of disclosure practices is full of contradictions and absurdities:
–“Anyone seeking financial disclosure reports from state officials in Connecticut must e-mail their requests, which are then considered for release at the discretion of the governor.”
–“Rhode Island posts an online database of statewide expenditures, http://controller.admin.ri.gov/index.php. But you have to be a state employee to look at it.”
–“Campaign contributions and expense reports in New Mexico are posted online, but in some cases don’t provide much information. The state does not have adequate enforcement of filing deadlines or disclosure of key, required data in campaign reports. Candidates sometimes file completely blank reports. And, the system cannot accommodate users with Mac computers.” [Emphasis added.]
The twenty categories examined were: death certificates, financial disclosures, audit reports, project expenditures, department of transportation projects, bridge inspection reports, fictitious registration of business names, disciplinary actions against attorneys, disciplinary actions against medical physicians, hospital inspection reports, nursing home inspection reports, child care center inspection reports, statewide school test scores, teacher certifications, school building inspections, school bus inspections, gas pump overcharges, consumer complaints against businesses, environmental citations, and campaign finance information.
The results were released today at the start of Sunshine Week 2009, which runs March 15-21. The study was developed by Sunshine Week, the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ Freedom of Information Committee, the National Freedom of Information Coalition, and the Society of Professional Journalists’ FOI Committee.
It should be noted that states were graded on a friendly curve. “Generally (or perhaps generously), if some information was posted in a usable fashion, the state got credit for having something up,” said Sunshine Week Coordinator Debra Gersh Hernandez.
March 15, 2009