For
Immediate Release: Wednesday,
October 17, 2007
Contact:
Kim Alexander or Will Barrett
(916)
441-2494, kimalex@calvoter.org, will@calvoter.org
Sacramento,
CA – Access to
state-level candidate campaign disclosure
data continued to improve in states across
the country, according to Grading State
Disclosure 2007, a comprehensive evaluation
of campaign finance disclosure laws and
programs in the 50 states. The 2007
study, released today by the California
Voter Foundation, found that Washington
State ranks first in the nation in campaign
disclosure, while Oregon ranked as the
most improved state in 2007. The study
is the fourth in a series, which was first
conducted in 2003, and is online at www.campaigndisclosure.org.
The assessment was conducted by the Campaign
Disclosure Project, which seeks to bring
greater transparency and accountability
to money in state politics. The project
is a collaboration of the California Voter
Foundation, the Center for Governmental
Studies and the UCLA School of Law and
is supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
“Access to campaign finance data
enables voters to make informed election
choices and hold politicians accountable,” said
Kim Alexander, president of the California
Voter Foundation. “This study
helps the public determine how their state’s
disclosure programs compare with others,
and provides resources and incentives to
help states improve.”
Washington
State ranked number one in the country
for the fourth time in 2007, followed
by California and Oregon. Overall, 36
states’ disclosure programs earned
passing grades in the 2007 assessment,
while 14 states’ disclosure programs
received an F. Twenty-one states’ grades
improved overall since the 2005 assessment.
A list of each state’s grades,
in rank order, is attached.
A significant area of improvement is in
electronic filing; 40 states now permit
candidates to file disclosure reports electronically.
The number of states requiring electronic
filing by legislative and statewide candidates
has nearly doubled in the past four years,
increasing from twelve in 2003 to 23 today.
The study found that states with electronic
filing programs are far more likely to
also provide online, searchable databases
of campaign contributions and expenditures.
“Having the data arrive in a digital
format enables disclosure agencies to place
it on the Internet where it can be accessed
immediately by the public,” Alexander
noted.
The Campaign Disclosure Project evaluates,
grades, and ranks each state in four categories:
campaign disclosure laws; electronic filing
programs; public access to campaign finance
data; and disclosure web site usability.
In 2007, 18 states earned grades in the
A or B range, up from eleven in 2005, and
only two in 2003. Thirteen states received
Cs, five received Ds and 14 received Fs
in the assessment.
Among the study's significant findings:
-
States
with the strongest campaign disclosure
programs are: Washington, California,
Oregon, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Virginia,
Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey and Ohio.
-
States
with the weakest campaign disclosure
programs are: Delaware, Nebraska, New
Hampshire, Nevada, North Dakota, Mississippi,
Montana, South Dakota, Alabama and Wyoming.
-
Oregon
was the most improved state, climbing
from 24th to 3rd place, followed
by South Carolina, which jumped from
49th to 33rd. Colorado, New York
and Pennsylvania also showed significant
improvements.
“That nearly half of the states
earned higher grades in 2007 shows that
state disclosure agencies take their responsibilities
very seriously and are actively working
to provide better access,” said Bob
Stern, president of the Center for Governmental
Studies. “However, it is important
to recognize that state legislatures have
the greatest impact on strengthening access
to campaign data. Without comprehensive
campaign disclosure laws in place, agencies
are limited in what they can offer the
public.”
Each
state was assessed, graded and ranked
for its overall performance as well as
its performance in each of the four grading
categories. States performed best in
the law category, with 44 receiving passing
grades and six failing. Thirty states
passed in the electronic filing category;
20 failed. Thirty-four states passed
in both the data access and web site usability
categories, while 16 failed.
The
Campaign Disclosure Project sets a high,
but not impossible, standard for state
campaign finance disclosure. Grading
criteria were developed by the Campaign
Disclosure Project partners, the project's
advisory board and a panel of expert judges,
who also assisted with the grading process.
In developing the criteria, efforts were
made to balance the concerns of practitioners
and government officials with the public's
need for timely, complete and effective
disclosure.
State assessments are based on research
of state laws as of December 2006, survey
results from state disclosure agency staff,
web site visits and online research from
February to June of 2007, and web site
testing by outside evaluators in April
2007. Grading State Disclosure 2007 is
available in print and online, and features
a summary of each state’s performance,
a nationwide overview of state disclosure
laws and practices, and charts, graphs
and maps illustrating state disclosure
performance. The Project’s
web site, www.campaigndisclosure.org, also
features a database of state disclosure
laws and a model disclosure law.
Additional Contacts:
Bob Stern, Center for Governmental Studies,
310-470-6590 x117, rstern@cgs.org.
Joe Doherty, UCLA School of Law, 310-206-2675,
Doherty@mail.law.ucla.edu
Grading State Disclosure
2007 grades, in rank order:
1. Washington: A-
2. California: B+
3. Oregon: B+
4. Florida: B+
4. Hawaii: B+
6. Michigan: B
7. Virginia: B
8. Georgia: B
9. Illinois: B
10.
New Jersey:
10.
Ohio: B
12.
Rhode Island: B
13.
Maine: B
13.
Massachusetts: B
15.
Colorado: B-
16.
New York: B-
17.
Missouri: B-
17.
Texas: B-
19.
Minnesota: C+
20.
Kentucky: C+
21.
North Carolina: C+
22.
Pennsylvania: C+
23.
Louisiana: C
23.
Oklahoma: C
25.
Indiana: C
26.
Idaho: C
27.
Alaska: C
28.
Maryland: C
28.
Tennessee: C
30.
Arizona: C-
30.
Wisconsin: C-
32.
West Virginia: D+
33.
South Carolina: D+
34.
Iowa: D
35.
Connecticut: D
36.
Kansas: D
37.
New Mexico: F
38.
Arkansas: F
39.
Utah: F
40.
Vermont: F
41.
Delaware: F
41.
Nebraska: F
43.
New Hampshire: F
44.
Nevada: F
45.
North Dakota: F
46.
Mississippi: F
47.
Montana: F
48.
South Dakota: F
49.
Alabama: F
50.
Wyoming: F
