Public Records Free Directory Blog

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) involved a $787 billion federal stimulus that went to states to shore up their finances, create new jobs, upgrade infrastructure and invest in energy-efficient projects. This stimulus plan was to be carried out with transparency and accountability and, accordingly, each state government created a website to outline that state’s role in utilizing this federal stimulus money.

As to be expected, these websites differ in their quality and amount of information they provide. Good Jobs First, an organization involved with accountability at the federal and state level, recently released its report evaluating these state government websites. The study rates each state on a scale of 0 – 100 on two main categories – it’s main Recovery Act website and on its reporting of highway project spending. Ratings were based on whether the following information was provided: planned spending totals, distribution of spending by county, project location maps, contract details including dollar amounts and contractor names, and project status. Additionally, the states websites were rated based on whether the information was up to date and inclusive. Most states did not score very high on this report, with the median score being 25 although scores for highway funds reporting were higher at 38.

We here at the Free Public Records Directory are not surprised at the wide variance in the quality of these government websites. Working with government websites on a daily basis shows us that the level of online access to government records varies greatly from state to state and county to county. Given that some states provide excellent online access to many types of government records only shows that ALL states should be able to provide this same service. We encourage everyone to advocate not only for increased transparency in government records but also to actively lobby for their government agencies to make this information easily available online for all.