With the widespread availability of the Internet, putting records of state transactions online promotes accountability. South Carolina is one state that has put together a searchable database, which you can look at through the web site of the comptroller general.

You can get numbers for the 2006-07 fiscal year, or monthly and year-to-date numbers for the current year. For example, in the 2006-07 year, the education department spent $189,986 in lodging, but $1,513,386 for something called "non-state employee travel." Perhaps that money is for expenses of experts and speakers who visit from out of state--or perhaps it's for spouses and children of employees.