Bruce Speight

Recent federal findings criticizing the lack of openness in Wisconsin’s distribution of federal economic development funds highlights the need for a serious effort by state leaders to ensure these subsidy programs are transparent and accountable. A new WISPIRG Foundation report has found that Wisconsin taxpayers have access to almost no information about the outcomes from the millions of dollars invested in economic development subsidies from the past four years. The report, “Leaving Taxpayers in the Dark: The Urgent Need to Improve Transparency and Accountability in Wisconsin’s Economic Development Subsidy Programs,” finds that online transparency has gotten worse despite promises from state leaders to enhance transparency and accountability in these programs.

The outcome of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have far reaching impacts on consumers. The law is...