The S.W.A.M.P. Index 2018

The States With Anti-Corruption Measures for Public officials (S.W.A.M.P.) Index is a comparative scorecard which rates 50 States and the District of Columbia based on the laws and regulations governing ethics and transparency in the executive and legislative branches.

The S.W.A.M.P. Index 2018

October 4, 2018

Jump to: Major Findings | Recommendations | Index Score Chart, Rubric, and Rankings | Full Report | Resources & Downloads

The States With Anti-Corruption Measures for Public officials [S.W.A.M.P.] Index analyzes the laws of the 50 States and District of Columbia regarding the establishment and scope of ethics agencies, the powers of those agencies, acceptance and disclosure of gifts by public officials, transparency of funding independent expenditures and client disclosure by legislators. It is an objective analysis, based on current state laws and regulations governing ethics and transparency in the executive and legislative branches.

The index uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 is a perfect score.

The S.W.A.M.P. Index Scores

Major Findings

There is wide variation in state laws and regulations governing ethics and transparency in the executive and legislative branches. The full report includes our detailed findings on individual questions. Below is a brief distillation of some of our major findings.

The 2018 S.W.A.M.P. Index highlights the loopholes and weaknesses that are rampant in ethics and transparency laws at the state level. We need to demand accountability and a commitment from our public officials to improve the legal framework going forward.

Shruti Shah President & CEO Coalition for Integrity

Top Recommendations

Given that no state received a perfect score there is certainly room for improvement in each state. To strengthen anti-corruption measures states should ensure their laws meet the following standards:

Index Score Chart, Rubric, and Ranking

Download the Scoring Rubric (Word)

The scoring rubric serves as the answer key to the scoring chart, matching index scores to succinct descriptions of full credit, partial credit, and no credit answers to the research questions (and the corresponding scoring chart keywords). NB: this document must be read side-by-side with our scoring chart.

Download The Index Scoring Chart (Excel)

This index scoring chart contains keyword answers to the research questions, and computes each state's index score question by question. NB: the Scoring Chart must be read side-by-side with the Scoring Rubric.

Download the State Rankings (Excel)

The State Rankings Sheet displays the numerical rank and score for each individual state.

Report

The 2018 S.W.A.M.P. Index Report

The report contains our findings and analysis.

Resources & Downloads

Press Release

Methodology Note

Downloadable Map Graphic and Results Table