Study: R.I. receives ‘D+’ for spending transparency

IN THE U.S. PUBLIC Interest Research Group Education Fund's annual report evaluating states on government spending transparency, Rhode Island earned a letter grade of D+, the ninth worst grade in the country. / COURTESY R.I. OFFICE OF DIGITAL EXCELLENCE
IN THE U.S. PUBLIC Interest Research Group Education Fund's annual report evaluating states on government spending transparency, Rhode Island earned a letter grade of D+, the ninth worst grade in the country. / COURTESY R.I. OFFICE OF DIGITAL EXCELLENCE

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranks among the worst states for transparency of government spending data, according to a study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund released Tuesday.
The study, titled “Following the Money 2014: How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data,” evaluated each state’s transparency website for comprehensiveness and ease of use and assigned a numerical score and a letter grade to the state.
Rhode Island’s overall score of 62 out of a possible 100 earned the state a grade of D+ and ranked Rhode Island as the ninth least-transparent state in the country.
Described as a “lagging state,” Rhode Island lacks transparency and accessibility in certain areas related to government spending, the study found. For example, while Rhode Island’s transparency website allows residents to search for specific payments, citizens cannot download the entire data set to examine and analyze trends over time. Without this function, watchdog citizens cannot effectively work to uncover evidence of potential favoritism to certain contractors, or discover ways the state could spend money more effectively, the PIRG said.
“State governments across the country have become more transparent about where public money goes, providing citizens with the information they need to hold elected officials and recipients of public subsidies accountable,” said Phineas Baxandall, senior analyst with the Rhode Island branch of the PIRG Education Fund. “But Rhode Island has a long way to go.”
Last year was the first time that all 50 states maintained transparency websites, the PIRG study said. Rhode Island’s website, www.transparency.ri.gov, was first established in January 2013 under Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee’s Transparency and Accountability Initiative.
Although Rhode Island showed improvement over the 2013 PIRG study – when the Ocean State earned a letter grade of D- for its score of 54 – many of the shortfalls noted in last year’s report remained unimproved in 2014. Although the state’s website provides access to “checkbook-level” information on contracts, grants and other expenditures, it lacks other detailed information about economic development tax credits, descriptions of the projected and achieved benefits of economic development subsidies, and spending data for off-budget quasi-public agencies. Between 2013 and 2014, Rhode Island did improve access to tax expenditures reports through the transparency website, however, earning full marks for that scoring criterion this year after failing to earn any points in that area last year.
Rhode Island’s Chief Digital Officer Thom Guertin, who oversees the Office of Digital Excellence responsible for the state’s transparency website, did not immediately respond to calls requesting comment on the study’s findings.
Rhode Island’s score of 62 was lower than any other New England state. Massachusetts and Vermont each scored an A-, while Connecticut scored a B. Maine and New Hampshire both scored C+.
Three other states – Minnesota, Delaware and South Carolina – joined Rhode Island with scores of D+, while two states scored a D, three states scored a D- and three states scored an F. California, with an overall score of 34, ranked lowest, while Indiana topped the list with its score of 94. No state earned a letter grade higher than A-.
At least eight states have launched brand new transparency websites since last year’s report, the PIRG said, and most made improvements over the year. In Massachusetts, the state government has awarded more than $300,000 in grants to six cities to post their spending information online, and plans to help 20 cities create spending transparency websites by January 2015, according to the study.
Nationwide, not a single state provides checkbook-level spending information on all of its quasi-public agencies, the PIRG said, and only six states provide checkbook-level data on the subsidy recipients for all of the state’s top economic development programs.
The U.S. PIRG Education Fund is an independent research and public education nonprofit based in Boston that works to educate consumers and promote good government. This was the groups fifth annual report on government spending transparency.
To read the full report on state spending transparency, click HERE.

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