The Transparency Train

The Transparency Train web portal provides access to a variety of websites designed to present public information in a “Google” style searchable format.  Rhode Islanders can search websites such as RI Data which contains every budget, payroll, public employee contract and monthly check register for all cities, towns and school districts.  RI Votes contains information on legislation and voting records.  LRB Watch provides analysis and information on the State Labor Relations Board.  RI Stimulus Watch allows taxpayers to vote and comment on stimulus projects in Rhode Island.  RI Schools allows users to create comparative graphs of school districts plotting various metrics such as cost per student, test scores, and number of employees.  Lastly, Take Action shows taxpayers how to file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for public information and what to do if they don’t comply.  This portal is a great resource!  Be sure to check out the Transparency Train! 

Additional Transparency Portal in Kansas

The Kansas Policy Institute launched KansasOpenGov.org, a transparency portal that gives taxpayers the opportunity to view state government spending and other data.  It also provides a forum for Kansans to add their own thoughts on the data.  Users can browse information or narrow search results by specific search variables.  Information is available on the state’s check register, payroll and retiree payments, employment contracts and legislative expenditures.  KansasOpenGov is a nice addition to the state’s transparency website, KansasKanView.  Congrats to the Kansas Policy Institute on the successful launch.  Check out the website here. 

Transparency Research

Our friends at the Mercatus Center released a new study on the issue of transparency and accountability.  The authors define the concepts of transparency and accountability as well as establish the correlation of both with performance.  It further explores how mandatory transparency improves corporate performance and what lessons government can draw from that.  The paper also examines the limitations of transparency, including exceptions that swallow the rule and public choice concerns.  Click here to read the paper.