Abstract
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included provisions to disclose how more than $275 billion in grants, contracts, and loans were spent under the Act. These requirements fell not only on federal agencies but also on the recipients and sub-recipients of these monies. In many cases, state governments were the focal points for collecting and reporting this information. This report examines the experiences of six states with a range of experiences with the Act's transparency requirement--Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Texas, and Washington. The author interviewed federal and state officials as well as journalists and advocacy groups covering the Act. She discovered that the transparency provisions improved the capacity of state officials to better manage the disbursement of federal funds under the Recovery Act. The report offers recommendations to federal and state officials in the design and implementation of future transparency initiatives. --