ALBANY - An Internet connection is all New Yorkers need now to track how money is spent to influence decisions in state government - as long as it's information from the past year or two.

A new site, www.sunlightny.com, will show what companies donated to politicians and how those politicians voted on legislation. It completes the “jigsaw puzzle” of public information in New York, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.

During his campaign, Cuomo promised to bring a wave of reform to Albany, including Project Sunlight, a Web site designed to disclose and connect information having to do with legislative action, campaign finance, lobbying, state contracts and corporate subsidiaries.

The idea is to allow the public to go to one site to see all of the information currently available on seven different state databases.

“Government can only be as good as the level of trust that the citizens have,” Cuomo said. “If the citizens don't believe in the government, it's going to, by definition, limit the capacity of government to serve. So the more we can expose, the more we can restore trust, the better.”

Most of the information available only goes as far back as the past year or two. Officials were uncertain if they would be able to make past years available.

The site also has a map of New York state, divided by county, that allows users to search for member item spending - funds brought to their districts by legislators - by region.

The Attorney General's office plans to refine the Web site over time based on responses from the public.

Cuomo said he sees the project becoming part of a civics lesson for students around the state. He also said he hopes other states will develop similar ways to promote openness.