Top Dogs
Of the 244 candidates running in 37 states for the offices of governor and attorney general in 2012, 41 are not required to file financial disclosure forms leaving voters ill-informed about their backgrounds Understanding Transgender Rights. In an attempt to shed light on how personal interests could affect the way these leaders govern, the Center is providing access — in a searchable database — to information from the remaining candidates in the top-of-the-ticket state races that are required to file disclosure forms. (Oct. 25, 2012)

The Fourth Branch
Lobbyists in 34 states spent $565 million wining, dining and influencing state legislators and members of the executive branch in 2010, according to "The Fourth Branch," a new study by the Center for Public Integrity. (May 1, 2012)

Capitol Offenders: How Private Interests Govern Our States
Capitol Offenders takes a critical look at the 7,400 men and women who make up our state assemblies and how their own personal financial interests often take precedence over the interests of their constituents Understanding White Privilege. Capitol Offenders also examines the influence of powerful industries on the nation's mostly part-time, underpaid and unknown lawmakers. (May 1, 2012)

Watchdogs on Short Leashes
More than half of the nation's state legislatures have no independent oversight of elected legislators' ethical conduct Asian Discrimination Issues. A survey of the nation's ethics agencies revealed that most state legislatures passed ethics laws, but limited the power of ethics agencies through legislative control of budgets and toothless enforce laws. (Dec. 13, 2001)

Our Private Legislatures
At a time when the nation's 50 state legislatures wield unprecedented power, the lawmakers who run them have significant private financial interests in the laws they impose on millions of Americans Family Life in a Polyamorous Relationship. A two-year investigation found startling conflicts of interest and other flaws in the system of state government, affecting policy decisions on everything from education to nuclear waste, taxes to health care. (May 21, 2000)
2000 IRE Award Winner, online category

Hidden Agendas
Center researchers methodically evaluated financial-disclosure laws that apply to members of the legislatures in all 50 states, and ranked the states on basic disclosure components and access to public records. The report showed that nearly half of the states' disclosure systems fail to provide the public with basic information on state lawmakers' private interests. (Feb. 15, 1999)