Law-enforcement agencies wield great power and therefore must be accountable to the public for its use. This applies regardless of who is paying an officer’s salary, especially when that employer is an institution such as a university.
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Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett should get off the fence and reappoint Monroe County native Terry Mutchler to a second term heading Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records. Mutchler's six-year term ended in April, and she and her busy staff have been in limbo ever since. The work the OOR does is vital. The office advocates for Pennsylvania citizens, helping to ensure access to government records and training public officials on how to comply with the law.
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Read More… from Editorial: Corbett should OK open records chief
The recent state Senate investigative report into Caltrans and the Bay Bridge does more than deal with troubled decision-making and construction work. It also includes a strong push for greater public transparency throughout state government.
The report commissioned by Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, and his Senate Transportation and Housing Committee ends with 16 conclusions and recommendations. The first among them is this: “Transparency in the affairs of the public is paramount and leads to accountability, which leads to better results.”
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Read More… from Opinion: Senate report on Caltrans speaks to culture of open government
Women in state government make about 88 percent of what men do, a disparity that crosses seniority levels, union membership and fields of work, an analysis by the Statesman Journal found.
The gap is narrower than the one that exists statewide, but Gov. John Kitzhaber requested in a letter sent July 11 that the Department of Administrative Services make closing it a top priority. The agency is now conducting its own internal study of men's and women's pay.
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Read More… from Women paid 88 percent of men in Oregon state government
After more than 1,200 developers across Australia hacked away for 48 hours over the 11-13 July weekend, the GovHack 2014 winners have been announced.
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Text messages sent on a private telephone between Maureen McDonnell, wife of Bob McDonnell, and businessman Johnnie Williams are key evidence in the corruption trial of the former Virginia governor, according to the Washington Post.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s aides also produced text messages in the “Bridgegate” investigation, again using private telephones.
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The FOIA Improvement Act of 2014 (S.2520) (“FIA”) sets out to make various tweaks to a key federal access to information statute, the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). Below, I overview some of the most significant changes the bill would make, and comment on just how dramatic those would be relative to existing law and practice.
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Laws such as the federal Freedom of Information Act and the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act were designed as ways to keep the things government entities do in the sunlight. The idea is that people should have access to what their government is doing. Being able to see what government entities are doing is vital to maintaining a society that embraces democratic principles.
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Fulfilling a campaign promise by Mayor Betsy Price, Fort Worth is jumping on the open data government bandwagon. Last month, the city launched an online portal that provides direct access to a wellspring of public information.
Open data sites like the city’s new data.fortworthtexas.gov are based on the principle that government data is a public asset — like parks and roads — and should be made readily available to everyone.
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Read More… from City website a good first step toward government transparency
