Despite sweeping campaign-finance reform this year, a new scorecard from the National Institute on Money In State Politics gives Florida a D grade for disclosure requirements. State rankings are based on how well the public can follow non-campaign money spent to elect politicians.
Florida ranked higher than many states because it does require groups outside of political campaigns to disclose how they spend money.
“So that’s the good news," Denise Roth Barber, with the Institute, said.
Political groups in Florida disclose spending on TV ads, but a couple of key pieces of information are still lacking that would allow people to really see how money affects the outcome of elections, she said.
“Perhaps it just would take some tweaks in the reporting forms to require the target and position to be reported, and that would bring Florida from a D to an A in our minds," she said.
With those changes, voters would be able to see who the ad was about and whether the group opposes or supports that candidate.
Fifteen states got A grades for disclosure, while 26 states got F's.