The State of Disclosure in Kansas

Very little about Kansas’ disclosure program has changed since 2004, and it received an overall F for the third year in a row. In spite of the general lack of progress, a better performance in this year’s usability tests did cause the state’s overall ranking to improve slightly.

Kansas has made no measurable improvements to its disclosure law in the last three years, and again received a D in this category. The law requires candidates to report detailed information about contributors giving over $50, including occupation but not employer for those giving more than $150.  Expenditure disclosure is stronger, but still does not require reporting of accrued expenditures, and there is no reporting of last-minute contributions and independent expenditures until after the election. Legislation enacted several years ago authorized the development of an electronic filing system for campaign disclosure, but no money was appropriated. A number of bills introduced in 2004 would have established e-filing, but none passed and the state is still without even a voluntary electronic filing program.

Access to campaign finance data in Kansas is still well below average, and there is much room for improvement in this area. Because the Governmental Ethics Commission currently data-enters filings, it takes up to two months for that information to be made available on the Internet, though the agency reports it plans to scan and post filings within two days in 2006. Itemized expenditure data is currently not available on the web site at all.  While several other states actually decreased the cost of paper copies of campaign finance reports this year, the Secretary of State’s office continues to charge a relatively high 50 cents per page for such copies.

Kansas’ grade in Online Contextual and Technical Usability climbed from a D to a C in 2005, due to an improved usability testing score. Testers reported relatively high levels of confidence in the data they located on the site, and generally found it easy to understand. Nonetheless, there are still some significant shortcomings in terms of contextual information, including a lack of information to help visitors understand which records are available online. The Commission could also consider a redesign of its web site, to improve navigation and facilitate better access to the records available there.

→ Quick Fix: Allow site visitors to search by amount and zip code by adding those fields—both of which are already available in the search results—to the database search screen.

♦ Editor’s Pick: “Quick Statistics” provide summary amounts raised and spent for each candidate and go back to 1993. View image

Disclosure Agency: Governmental Ethics Commision
Disclosure Web Site: http://www.accesskansas.org/ethics