California, along with other states, is fast-tracking new legislation to maximize the state's stimulus take. For instance, changing the state's unemployment benefit from 33 weeks to 59 weeks will reap an extra $900 million in stimulus funding.
At all levels, talk of stimulus transparency returns to one question: Who's responsible for what? Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) took matters into her own hands: On her official Web site, she published a transparency-dedicated map of Sacramento-area stimulus projects. The Sacramento Bee published a similar interactive map last week, though Matsui's map is quite different.
And, this morning the AP reported what we at ProPublica noted over six weeks ago: The stimulus' jobs estimates are a patchwork of conflicting assumptions, mixed historical metaphors and "more than a little hope."
