FINANCIAL EXPOSURE: Rating the States on Economic Development Transparency
By Kasia Tarczynska, Christine Wen, and Katie Furtado
Good Jobs First
April 2022
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.
This is the sixth transparency report card Good Jobs First has produced since 2007.
Online state appendices with program scoring details:
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.