Washington Recovery Act websites recognized for excellence

For Immediate Release: July 30, 2009

OLYMPIA � A study of state Recovery Act websites around the nation has given Washington high marks for its state recovery site and its transportation recovery site.

The study done by the organization Good Jobs First ranked Washington�s Recovery Act transportation website (http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/funding/stimulus/) second in the nation for highway reporting sites and Washington�s main Recovery Act site (http://recovery.wa.gov/) third among the 50 states� primary websites.

�Accountability is crucial to managing economic recovery funds well,� Gov. Chris Gregoire said. �Washington state must ensure that the money provided by the federal government goes to the right projects and is used in the right way to help our residents and our economy, and our Recovery Act websites are tools we are using to show the public that we are delivering.�

The websites were evaluated for their effectiveness in conveying information about:
� The categories of stimulus spending.
� The distribution of that spending in different parts of the state.
� Specific projects being carried out by private contractors, including their employment impact.

This report, along with the state scoring sheets used to compile the results, can be found at http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/stimulusweb.cfm.