It’s getting easier to follow the money in Missouri politics. So says a new national study on campaign finance.

Missouri’s disclosure system, overseen by the state Ethics Commission, scored a grade of B- this year, up from a C+ last year.

Overall, Missouri’s system is now ranked the 17^th best in the country (tied with Texas). Illinois, which has consistently scored B’s in the study, came in at 9^th nationally.

The study looks at  accessibility and usability of the data. It doesn’t take into account whether a state has limits on donations - which Missouri does and Illinois does not.

The study was conducted by the Campaign Disclosure Project, a collaboration of the California Voter Foundation, the Center for Governmental Studies and the UCLA School of Law.

The bottom line: Missouri’s system is light years better than it was in 2003, when it scored a D.

One reason: All legislative candidates are finally required to file electronically. Until this year, they could file paper reports, which were scanned into a computer and could be called up, one page at a time, on the commission’s Web site, if it wasn’t on the blink.

Now, users can search the database by donor, ZIP code, employer or amount, the study notes. It suggests the state add searches by date and expenditure purpose, as well as the ability to sort search results.

The lack of those tools is partially offset by the commission’s willingness to provide data on disk at no charge, the study says.

“Usability” is still a problem, with Missouri earning an F in that category, down from a D last year. Testers disliked pop-up windows that display search results. The study also suggests Missouri add a user’s guide for the searchable database and a synopsis of the data available.