Implementing the Recovery Act: The Blog

The Recovery Act is quietly influencing federal-state-local relations. Not only is the money being used to save jobs as states and localities cut back their budgets, but the ways states and localities are choosing to use and report on the funds are creating different ways for getting “the business of government” done.

In an essay for the IBM Center, George Mason University professor Paul Posner describes this as “an accountability test” for the federal system. He talks about new governance models in addition to the new reporting requirements imposed by the Recovery Act.

But since things are changing so fast in the Recovery Act arena, the IBM Center is experimenting with new ways of keeping up with what is going on. So rather than just rely on research reports, the Center is now sponsoring a new blog -- focused on what is happening with the implementation of the Recovery Act – at the state level. This blog is being written by two well-regarded journalists who have focused on state and local management happening for several decades – Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene.

Recent topics on their Recovery Act blog:

• Improving the data quality of reports to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.
• An interview with Beth Blauer, who heads Maryland’s well-regarded Recovery Act command center.
• Rankings of the state stimulus websites.

Barrett and Greene are interviewing dozens of officials at the federal and state levels on what is going on, how the monies are being used, and what the actual impact is on-the-ground. We hope you enjoy their blog and include its RSS feed in your daily reading!