Financial Exposure: Rating the States on Economic Development Transparency


An evaluation of 250 major state-level economic development programs across all 50 states and the District of Columbia found that 154 of those programs—or 62%—disclose which companies receive public support, while 96 do not. But almost every state knows how to disclose and does so: 48 states plus the District of Columbia—or 96%—provide some degree of recipient disclosure. The gap reflects how inconsistent states are in reporting on all their major programs.

Press Release

Full Report

 

 

All State Appendices (with scoring methodology) PDF

Individual state appendices with program scoring details. Programs could receive a maximum score of 100:

Alabama
Score: 0.0/100

Alaska
Score: 16.3/100

Arizona
Score: 22.6/100

Arkansas
Score: 6.0/100

California
Score: 31.0/100

Colorado
Score: 26.5/100

Connecticut
Score: 51.6/100

Delaware
Score: 5.0/100

District of Columbia
Score: 12.0/100

Florida
Score: 32.0/100

Georgia
Score: 0.0/100

Hawaii
Score: 5.8/100

Idaho
Score: 5.6/100

Illinois
Score: 46.4/100

Indiana
Score: 44.6/100

Iowa
Score: 28.4/100

Kansas
Score: 28.8/100

Kentucky
Score: 32.6/100

Louisiana
Score: 28.6/100

Maine
Score: 2.4/100

Maryland
Score: 25.2/100

Massachusetts
Score: 16.6/100

Michigan
Score: 41.4/100

Minnesota
Score: 17.4/100

Mississippi
Score: 8.4/100

Missouri
Score: 22.6/100

Montana
Score: 23.0/100

Nebraska
Score: 13.0/100

Nevada
Score: 63.6/100

New Hampshire
Score: 2.6/100

New Jersey
Score: 22.0/100

New Mexico
Score: 9.8/100

New York
Score: 41.2/100

North Carolina
Score: 41.8/100

North Dakota
Score: 2.4/100

Ohio
Score: 21.6/100

Oklahoma
Score: 10.2/100

Oregon
Score: 32.0/100

Pennsylvania
Score: 18.4/100

Rhode Island
Score: 13.6/100

South Carolina
Score: 22.8/100

South Dakota
Score: 14.6/100

Tennessee
Score: 9.6/100

Texas
Score: 35.8/100

Utah
Score: 8.6/100

Vermont
Score: 24.2/100

Virginia
Score: 44.8/100

Washington
Score: 30.8/100

West Virginia
Score: 8.0/100

Wisconsin
Score: 39.2/100

Wyoming
Score: 9.4/100

Read our 2014 report, “Show Us the Subsidized Jobs.” Among the report’s key findings:

  • Forty-six states and the District of Columbia provide online recipient disclosure for at least one key subsidy program. This is up from 37 in late 2010 and 23 in 2007.
  • The states with the best average program scores are: Illinois (65), Michigan (58), North Carolina (48), Wisconsin (46), Vermont (43), Maryland (42) and Texas (40). The most-improved state is Oregon, which had no disclosure in 2010 and is now in the top ten with an average of 38.
  • The four states still lacking online disclosure are: Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho and Kansas.

Read our 2010 report, “Show Us the Subsidies.” Among the report’s key findings:

  • Thirty-seven states provide online recipient disclosure for at least one key subsidy program.
  • Based on our scoring system, the states with the best averages across their programs are: Illinois (82), Wisconsin (71), North Carolina (69) and Ohio (66).
  • Thirteen states and the District of Columbia currently have no disclosure at all, although one of those states, Massachusetts, is slated to come online as enacted legislation takes effect.