From Government Executive:
The DATA Act, the government spending transparency bill that passed the House in April, has ruffled some feathers at the Office of Management and Budget, signs of which were on display Tuesday at a panel discussion of lessons learned from implementation of the 2009 Recovery Act.
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Read More… from OMB not enamored of House-passed data transparency measure
From Legal Newsline:
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Legal Newsline) – The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that private companies — more specifically, those operating for "public benefit" — can be required to make their records public under the state's Right-to-Know Law.
In particular, the disclosure of any written concessionaire bids is required under the recently revamped law, the Court said in its May 29 ruling.
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Read More… from Pa. SC: Records for private companies can be public
From The Daily Home:
PELL CITY — The Daily Home withdrew its request for public records after the city attorney said Tuesday the person the newspaper sought records about officially withdrew his application for city manager.
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Read More… from Public records request withdrawn in Pell City, Alabama
From CTNewsJunkie:
Lawmakers planned Tuesday to amend one of the two special session bills to remove a controversial provision which would have created a new exemption to the state’s Freedom of Information law regarding money the state sends to businesses.
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Opinion from The Des Moines Register:
I was at a dinner party not long after the scandal erupted over former Des Moines schools Superintendent Nancy Sebring’s emails. At one point, the hostess turned to me and asked, “So, why should government emails be public?”
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Read More… from Iowa View: Private, public matters not easy to separate
From Voice of San Diego:
The City Council approved a plan Monday afternoon that will make copies of some government records more costly, but rejected Mayor Jerry Sanders' push to go even further.
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Read More… from City of San Diego Council: No New Public Records Fees
From The Beaver County Times:
Public-records requests filed under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law need not cite the law or satisfy other technicalities so long as they include the requester's name and address and enough information for government agencies to identify the records being sought, an appellate court panel ruled Monday.
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Read More… from Court rules Pa. records requests need not be perfect
From New York Daily News:
Washington, June 12 — India and the United States have unveiled the Open Government Platform, a bilateral effort aimed at fostering transparency and enhanced citizen engagement by making government data, documents, tools and processes publicly available.
The event was part of the US-India joint commission meeting on science and technology Cooperation held here Monday.
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From NPR:
Last week's assignment of two federal prosecutors to investigate disclosures of national security information might have been the first shot in a new war on leaks. The director of national intelligence is expected soon to announce new measures to fight unauthorized disclosures, and some members of Congress say it could be time for new anti-leaking laws.
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But advocates of open government fear an overreaction.
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Read More… from Does leaking secrets damage national security?
From Courthouse News Service:
WASHINGTON (CN) – A federal judge granted summary judgment to the Department of Justice after it found and released one final document responsive to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Sharif Mobley, a U.S. citizen imprisoned in Yemen.
The document released to Mobley is an unclassified email exchange between the DOJ's Civil Division and its Office of Legal Counsel.
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