New Jersey's Website Recognized As Among Best for Transparency

Sunshine Review Names 39 “Sunny Award” Winners

Alexandria, VA—New Jersey's website was named a winner of the “Sunny Award" today, marking it as one of the best state and local government websites for transparency by Sunshine Review, a pro transparency organization.

Award winners are among only 39 websites in America earning an “A” transparency grade from more than 5,000 analyzed. 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 public's business and the spending of taxpayers’ money. Official accountability is the corner stone of self government and liberty.”

Sunshine Review is a non-profit organization dedicated to state and local government transparency. The Sunshine Review wiki collects and shares transparency information and uses a 10-point “Transparency Checklist" to evaluate the content of every state and more than 5,000 local government websites. Sunshine Review collaborates with individuals and organizations throughout America in the cause of an informed citizenry and an accountable government.

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.