Behind open doors: states are using stimulus websites and "czars" to let citizens know how their tax money is being spent.

• Author: Prah, Pamela M.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

What do an FBI fraud team, a showdown between a governor and the legislature, and a sophisticated online system called geographic information systems have in common?

All are part of states' efforts to ensure that billions in federal stimulus money are spent wisely within their borders.

More than a third of the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package that President Obama signed into law in February goes to or through states. The biggest pot of money distributed to states so far was for health care about two-thirds of the $49 billion in stimulus money that states got during FY 2009 helped offset states' share of Medicaid, the joint state-federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled. More than $100 billion in additional funds for a variety of programs will arrive in states in FY 2010.

Taxpayers expect--and the federal stimulus law guarantees--that they easily will be able to track where and how money from the largest public works program since the Great Depression is being used. But states have wide latitude in deciding how they'll make that happen.

"This really is an unprecedented opportunity for the states," says Jill Satran, who is responsible for overseeing federal stimulus money in the state of Washington. States must prove to citizens that "they are getting a bang for the buck."

The first big test of states' oversight efforts comes this October when they must file the initial quarterly reports with the federal government on how they have spent those funds. Come November, the reports will appear on www.recovery.gov, the federal government's website.

The federal law doesn't require states to name point people or spell out their duties. But the Obama administration, which has czars for health care, energy, illegal drugs and even for cities, has asked states to name "implementation czars" to keep an eye on their share of the federal stimulus package.

Governors are free to tap whomever they want for the post--if anyone at all. Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Maryland and Texas have opted not to name a person.

CALIFORNIA SHINES

California went one step further. In addition to naming Cynthia Bryant, the governor's deputy chief of staff, as the stimulus czar, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger named Los Angeles City Controller Laura Chick as the first-in-the-nation state stimulus "inspector general" to also serve as a watchdog.

Chick's mission is to deter, detect and disclose any waste, fraud or abuse of the estimated $50 billion in federal stimulus money the state expects to receive over two years.

Chick, who built her...