FOLLOWING THE MONEY 2019: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SUBSIDIES

Definitions and grading criteris

Report

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Tax expenditure report publication

Criteria Description Points Partial Credit
Tax Expenditure Report The state’s tax expenditure report is available online and is published on an annual basis. 14 7 points were awarded if the report is published less frequently than annually.
Completeness Statement The tax expenditure report includes a completeness statement that provides information about which programs are excluded. 5 No partial credit.

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Grants report publication

Criteria Description Points Partial Credit – Statewide Report Partial Credit – Primary Economic Development Agency Report
Grants Report The state publishes an annual report on economic development grant payments that itemizes how much each active program cost in that fiscal year and is available online. 14 8 points were awarded if the state publishes online reports in which every active program is evaluated every 2 years.

6 points were awarded if the state publishes online reports in which every active program is evaluated on a 3-or-more year cycle.

8 points were awarded if instead of the state publishing a comprehensive report, the primary economic development agency publishes an annual report on the programs it administers.

6 points were awarded if the primary economic development agency publishes an itemized report evaluating all programs it administers every 2 years.

4 points were awarded if the primary economic development agency publishes an itemized report evaluating all programs it administers on a 3-or-more year cycle.

Completeness Statement The grants report includes a completeness statement about which programs are excluded. 5 No partial credit.  
ADDITIONAL: Grant Program Total Annual Expenditures in Portal but not Report The state does not publish a total expenditure amount for each grant program in its annual report, but does include the information in the state’s checkbook for programs administered by the state’s primary economic development agency. The checkbook must allow users to filter or sort by program and sum by program to receive credit. 6 No partial credit.  

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Reporting legislation

Criteria Description Points Partial Credit
Tax Expenditure Report Law The state has an active law requiring the creation of a tax expenditure report. 8 No partial credit.
Grants Report Law The state has an active law requiring the creation of a statewide grants report itemizing how much each program costs in a given fiscal year. 8 5 points were awarded if the state’s law requires the primary economic development agency to create a grants report itemizing program costs in a given fiscal year.

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Online portal inclusion

Criteria Description Points Partial Credit
Online Portal Checkbook-level payments to companies are included in the state’s online spending portal for the primary economic development agency for FY 18 or later.

(recipient companies must be named and not identified by an ID number)

24 6 points were awarded in cases where the state provides comparable information in the annual grants report. See “Additional Opportunities for Online Grant Reporting” at the end of this table.

4 points were awarded if the expenditure category used in the online spending portal included grants but was too broad to guarantee all payments were specifically grants.

BONUS: Regional Economic Development Districts Bonus points awarded if checkbook-level payments to companies are included in the state’s online spending portal for at least one of the regional economic development districts for FY18 or later.

(recipient companies must be named and not identified by an ID number)

3 No partial credit.
ADDITIONAL: Itemized Recipients in Report but not Portal The state does not publish the names of companies receiving payments from the primary economic development agency in the online portal, but does publish recipient companies and itemized grant payments in an annual report. 6 No partial credit.

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Online portal legislation

Criteria Description Points Partial Credit
Online Portal Law The state has an active law requiring the inclusion of economic development subsidy payments from the state’s primary agency in the state’s online transparency portal. 8 4 points were awarded if a law exists requiring at least one program’s inclusion in the portal.

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Public benefits

Criteria Description Points Partial Credit
Projected Public Benefits The state publishes the public benefits, such as the number of jobs, intended to be produced by specific private recipients of economic development subsidies in either the online portal or an annual report. The information must be consistently provided to count for points. 7 No partial credit.
Actual Public Benefits The state publishes the public benefits, such as the number of jobs, actually produced by economic development subsidies in either the online portal or an annual report. The information must be consistently provided to count for points.

7 No partial credit.