The Center for Public Integrity

There’s a flurry of recent activity in state capitals regarding financial-disclosure laws, a subject of ongoing scrutiny by the Center.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal name-checked the Center for Public Integrity when touting his gubernatorial accomplishments on MSNBC Tuesday, but he didn’t get our assessment of his state’s new ethics package quite right. And while we love the publicity, we feel compelled to set the record straight.

Since 2003, the feds have doled out nearly $3 billion to states to clean up their rickety, chad-hanging electoral systems. Turns out that 49 states – as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa -- have managed to file detailed reports accounting for their election reform funds. But one state can’t seem to explain how it spent the money: New Hampshire.

Starting in August, Missouri politicians can accept checks as big as they want, from whomever they want, whenever they want. Republican Governor Matt Blunt signed a bill last week that rolls back campaign contribution limits for state races, The Associated Press reports.

In the last vote of this year's session, the Georgia General Assembly on Thursday, March 31, passed House Bill 48 updating their ethics in government laws. Several provisions beef up requirements for legislative personal financial disclosure and lobbyist disclosure. Research for this was pulled from the Center's nationwide rankings on legislative disclosure laws and lobbyist disclosure laws. The Center will update Georgia's score and ranking when the legislation is signed into law.