Key Findings:

• Our Private Legislatures exposed the private financial interests of state lawmakers, looking into their connections with committees (indicating professional of business interests), lobbying firms, government agencies, and industries. The project ranks states according to their financial disclosure standards, and has seen success in states like Louisiana, which tightened its ethics standards with a new law that takes effect in January 2009.

• A searchable database has made it easy to access disclosure statements of all legislators, governors, and state Supreme Court justices filed in 2002.