A new state government Web site is supposed to make it easier to determine who benefits from taxpayer money by listing entities and organizations that receive $25,000 or more in state money.

But the Web site, which was supposed to be up and running Jan. 1, is nowhere to be found.

State lawmakers in 2007 set aside $250,000 to fund the searchable site, which was supposed to provide transparency in how the government spends money by making it easy to find entities receiving $25,000 or more in state awards, grants, contracts or purchase orders.

However, Gov. Linda Lingle has not released the $250,000 provided by the Legislature to the Department of Budget and Finance to create the site. The governor has the discretion to withhold money that has been appropriated by the Legislature for fiscal management reasons.

Lingle policy adviser Linda Smith said the administration won't be creating the Web site. However, the Lingle administration is taking other steps to increase transparency over government operations. That includes the recent release of a list of $1.86 billion in government construction projects to stimulate the economy and create more jobs.

That list, which is available at www.hawaii.gov/cip, includes a details of state contracting opportunities, including estimated project costs and contract award dates.

"We have put up contracts and projects, (and) we have made them totally transparent in terms of their status, what their description is, (and) where they're located," Smith said. "We recognize that that is a helpful tool.

"It's a first step in both trying to create the transparency as well as have the public hold us accountable for meeting deadlines in getting contracts out."

Lingle allowed House Bill 122, which authorized creation of the Web site, to become law in 2007 without her signature. According to a message attached to that measure, Lingle felt the state Procurement Office or the Department of Accounting and General Services were more appropriate agencies to create such a Web site. The bill put responsibility for the site with the state budget office. Lingle also expressed concern the law would raise procurement costs by requiring contractors, subcontractors and others to submit additional information to the state.

HB 122 was one of several measures passed in 2007 aimed at increasing transparency over government spending. Lawmakers also passed a law that now makes the names of companies benefiting from generous state technology tax credits public.

State officials have been slow to release the identities of companies benefiting from other tax credits, even when they are required to do so. In 2007 the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism took four months to disclose the identities of TV and film productions benefiting from state tax credits. The agency disclosed the names only under orders from the Office of Information Practices, which administers the state's open records laws.

Other information, including the identities of state contractors and grant recipients, is sometimes public. However, to obtain the information, people must approach individual agencies, which sometime balk or attempt to charge high fees for the data.

For example, in March 2006 The Advertiser requested financial details on all money given by one agency — DBEDT — to nonprofits during a three-year period. DBEDT said it would cost $21,491.50 to assemble the requested documents. The quote included costs for 1,122 hours of labor to search and review relevant documents.

The Web site also would have prevented DBEDT from withholding the identities of major sponsors of Lingle's trade mission to China in 2005. The trip was partially financed by about $268,000 in private sponsorships that had been funneled through an outside nonprofit group.

Because the nonprofit was not a state agency, its actions were not bound by procurement or sunshine laws. That allowed DBEDT to withhold the identities of major trip sponsors.

State Rep. Marcus Oshiro, D-39th (Wahiawa), who introduced HB 122 in 2007, said he was disappointed Lingle didn't create the Web site.

"They still have the opportunity to fulfill the law of the land," said Oshiro, chairman of the House Finance Committee. "I hope they will give the taxpayers of Hawai'i the opportunity to Google their government and find out how their monies are being spent and provide greater transparency for us."