Score one for transparency.
State senators apparently have eliminated a loophole in Right-to-Know legislation that would have enabled Pennsylvania’s state-related universities to shield from the public many of their highest employee salaries. Continue>>>
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Read More… from Pa. Senate bill drops disclosure loophole for state-related universities
A bill intended to bring increased transparency to the California Public Utilities Commission passed the California Senate Energy Committee Tuesday.
Assembly Bill 825, introduced by Assemblyman Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), would establish an independent authority to investigate the CPUC. It would also create a Public Advisor within the Commission to put transparency measures in place. Continue>>>
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The New Jersey Foundation for Open Government (NJFOG) on May 29 filed suit in Union County Superior Court against the Summit Housing Authority and its Custodian of Records alleging violations of the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).
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Read More… from New Jersey: Summit Housing Authority sued for public meeting and records violations
The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government has named four, including Albuquerque Journal Editor Kent Walz, to receive the group’s top honor for open government, the Dixon First Amendment Award.
The award honors the memory of FOG co-founder and longtime board member William S. Dixon, an Albuquerque attorney and leading defender of the First Amendment and the sunshine laws in New Mexico. Continue>>>
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Read More… from New Mexico: Journal editor, 3 others win open-government award
The FCC has set comment deadlines on its request for input on whether it should maintain a temporary exemption from enhanced transparency requirements under its new Title II-based network neutrality rules.
Comments will be due Aug. 5 and reply comments Sept. 4. Continue>>>
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Read More… from Deadlines Set for FCC Transparency Rule Comments
With the launch of the openFOIA website last month, the National Archives and Records Administration has laid out what information requesters and Freedom of Information Act office workers can get from the three main FOIA-related federal websites.
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Freedom of Information Act requests often take agencies months to fulfill, by which time some requesters from the media or advocacy groups may have moved on to other pursuits.
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Read More… from Justice Updates FOIA Guidance to Confirm Requesters Still Care
While California may be home to some of the most aggressively forward-thinking tech companies in the world, that enthusiasm for innovation hasn’t carried over to the public sector. State and local governments have been frustratingly slow to make public data available online. There hasn’t been anything close to a statewide standard, leaving individual agencies to voluntarily develop open data policies, often in an inconsistent and piecemeal fashion, or not at all.
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Sparkling new buildings are in the works in the ongoing modernization of D.C. schools, begun in 2006 and slated for $1.3 billion more in Mayor Muriel Bowser’s six-year plan. But the D.C. Council’s auditor reported Wednesday (1) that the program “failed to comply with D.C. Code and lacks accountability, transparency and basic financial management.”
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In the face of withering criticism, Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican leaders of the Legislature announced Saturday that a provision added to the state budget to gut the open records law “will be removed from the budget in its entirety.”
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Read More… from Wisconsin: Scott Walker, legislative leaders drop open records changes
