2010 Sunny Awards

The Best State and Local Government Websites For Transparency Recognized in 2010

The best state and local government websites in America for transparency today received a “Sunny Award” from Sunshine Review.

Award winners are among 41 out of 5,000 government websites to earn an "A" transparency grade. Sunshine Review’s “Transparency Checklist" analyzes websites for information about budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records, and taxes. The “Checklist” measures what content is available on government websites against what should be provided.

“Sunny Award winners deserve recognition for making information available to citizens and for setting a transparency standard that all governments can, and should, meet,” said Mike Barnhart, President of Sunshine Review. “Access to information empowers every citizen to hold government officials accountable for the conduct of the publics’ business and the spending of taxpayers’ money. Official accountability is the corner stone of self government and liberty.”

Since its inception in 2008, Sunshine Review has analyzed the websites of all 50 states, more than 3,140 counties, 805 cities, and 1,560 school districts .

Perfect scores

• Anderson County, South Carolina
• Carbondale, Illinois
• Clayton County, Georgia
• Cobb County, Georgia
• Davis School District, Utah
• Duval County, Florida
• Harris County, Texas
• Henry County, Georgia
• Hillsborough County Public Schools, Florida
• Los Angeles County, California
• Massachusetts state website
• Owasso, Oklahoma
• Seminole County Public Schools, Florida
• St. Johns County School District, Florida
• Surprise, Arizona
• Tulsa County, Oklahoma
• Washington state website

A grades