I’ve been spending some time browsing the web sites of state and county agencies, trying to get a better sense of how well they are being used to inform the public and provide useful information.

Yesterday I found myself at looking at the State Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, where I often go to look up information on businesses or to check on consumer complaints.

One of the things DCCA does is regulate licensed professions and take disciplinary action where necessary.

For example, here’s the link to a listing of disciplinary actions taken during the month of September 2009.

But these summary items only show the very basics of actions taken, with no information about the circumstances. However, there’s a specific notice at the bottom of this press release.

It promises:

The decisions and settlement agreements reported in this release are in the process of being posted online and will be available shortly at: http://www.hawaii.gov/dcca/areas/oah/oah_decisions/.

But click on that link and you get an error message if large blue letters…”We’re sorry, but that page doesn’t exist…”

The error page suggests several other things you might have been looking for, including two links to “Office of Administrative Hearings Decisions”.

Sounds promising. But both lead to quick dead ends.

“There are currently no items in this folder.”

Then there are links to “Disciplinary cases”.

Again, sounds good. But click on any of them and you reach password protected pages.

Click on the link provided in the DCCA header for “Reports”, and you’ll find a hodgepodge of reports dating from 2007 or before, including some apparently filed annually but simply not updated for several years.

So the DCCA site promises much more than it delivers. What a frustrating user experience!

Still browsing, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the city Department of Budget and Fiscal Services makes readily available the official statements for bonds issued by the city. These provide excellent financial information which is often more accurate than we’re accustomed to because of the strict rules governing disclosure to investors. They also identify local law firms selected to serve as bond counsel, traditionally a significant but often unnoticed bit of patronage. Honolulu’s local bond work seem to be locked up by McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon LLP. That’s worth the price of admission.

I haven’t been able to find similar bond statements available from the state Department of Budget and Finance. The city seems to be way ahead, at least in this area.

And I was more surprised to see that Budget and Fiscal Services is tweeting! That’s right–check them out on Twitter.