Following the Money 2019 shows that many states fail to disclose even basic information about economic development subsidies to the public in a timely manner, much less provide that information online in an accessible format. More than one-third of states received an “F” for their transparency efforts.
• Only one state, Ohio, is a "Leading State" (“A” range) for economic development transparency, providing citizens with an acceptable and consistent level of information about economic development subsidies across a number of formats, with access to that information guaranteed by law.
• Three states are "Advancing States" (“B” range). These states include itemized grant payments to companies in their online spending portals, and most publish an annual report detailing statewide spending on economic development grants.
• Fifteen states are "Middling States" ("C" range). These states fulfill the most basic and important modern transparency requirement by including payments made by the primary economic development agency in the state’s transparency checkbook portal. However, only seven of these states provide both the projected and actual benefits of subsidy payments and only nine publish an annual tax expenditure report.
• Fourteen states are "Lagging States" ("D" range). Economic development subsidy reporting in these states fails to provide critical information to citizens in a readily accessible format.
• Over a third of the states (17) are "Failing States" ("F" range) and do not meet even basic standards of online spending transparency for economic development subsidies. Only 10 of these states publish any kind of annual grants report, while only two include grant payments made by the primary economic development agency in the state’s online checkbook.