WASHINGTON - April 26 - The Center for Public Integrity today launched a new comprehensive state-by-state Web site feature, providing visitors with access to nearly 7,000 personal financial disclosure filings submitted by state legislators, detailing their non-legislative employment, board positions and investment holdings.

In conjunction with the new "In Your State" feature, the Center released an updated ranking of state disclosure laws, taking into account that in 2005 at least seven states provided more public access to information on legislators' jobs outside the statehouse.

"In Your State," which includes a distinct Web page for each state, also incorporates data from all of the Center's state-oriented reports, including:

• Lobby spending at the state and federal levels;
• Names of 527s and political non-profit groups from each state;
• A survey of legislative ethics agencies and oversight laws within each state;
• Political donations by pharmaceutical companies in each state;
• Details on prosecutorial misconduct in each state;
• Contributions and expenditures of state political parties; and,
• Media ownership within each state.

The Center's Executive Director, Roberta Baskin, said of the new feature:

"The Center for Public Integrity's 'In Your States' pages are, without a doubt, the most comprehensive examination of the lobbying practices, ethical boundaries, political connections, and financial underpinnings that define state governments. The Center has analyzed not only those groups attempting to influence state politics, but also those legislators who have connections and interests outside the statehouse. The work we've done is methodical. And this new website feature gives a measure of transparency to local politics to help voters make better informed decisions."

"In Your State", which is linked from the Center's homepage, incorporates information as recent as 2006. The feature is the product of a decade of Center studies on state government, and will be a regularly updated to include up-to-date information on legislatures, lobbyists and industry working at the state level.

The project was made possible thanks to support from the Joyce Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

To access the "In Your State" pages, click on the following URL: www.publicintegrity.org/iys/

Or, go to the Center for Public Integrity's homepage, www.publicintegrity.org

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