New Missouri law means less transparency in government

Not more transparency, but less!

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Gov. Mike Parson’s administration shut down access today to a website that allows Missourians to track what companies are winning potentially lucrative state contracts.

An announcement on the Office of Administration’s procurement website says that a new law, signed by the Governor, means that contract award information will be removed for “privacy reasons.”

The law went into effect on Sunday.

Henceforth if taxpayers want to determine how their money is being spent by the state they’ll have to file  Sunshine Law requests.

However, that could involve lengthy delays while the state reviews and redacts the information requested. .