UPDATE

March 2010. Federal Crackdown on Government Programs. President Barack Obama yesterday announced a new effort to crack down on waste and fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs through the expanded use of payment recapture audits. These are investigations in which specialized private sector auditors use cutting-edge technology and tools to scrutinize government payments and then find and reclaim taxpayer funds made in error or gained through fraud. These auditors can be compensated based on the amount of improper payments they identify and are reclaimed - providing a powerful incentive to find every error. [White House Press Release]

January 26, 2010. State Representative Will Brownsberger published a letter in the Belmont Citizen-Herald calling for more transparency in the State Legislature, and how indiscretions and how they are dealt with can "obscure real recent accomplishments like pension reform, ethics reform, transportation reform, and education reform, not to mention producing a timely budget in a deep recession" that state government has accomplished recently. [Full Letter]

GET INVOLVED

The ONE Massachusetts staff and netowrk is working closely with partner Common Cause Massachusetts, on efforts to increase transparency statewide. For more information on these efforts, please contact ONE Massachusetts Project Director, Yawu Miller.