From Kentucky Open Government Blog
A bill opposed by the Kentucky Press Association that could increase secrecy at the Cabinet for Health and Family Servicesdied in a Senate committee on Tuesday then was revived minutes later in the House of Representatives.
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From California Watch
Biotech companies with operations in California – the birthplace of the industry and home to one-third of the country’s biotech firms – spent $40 million on federal lobbying between 2009 and 2011, according to an analysis released yesterday by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Center for Responsive Politics.
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Read More… from Calif. biotech firms spend $40 million on lobbying in 3 years
A few open government and FOIA news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier.
Text messages enter public-records debate
Those supposedly private messages that public officials dash off on their government cellphones to friends and colleagues aren't necessarily private after all.
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From Truth-Out.org
The Occupy Wall Street Homeland Security FOIA documents are now available for download courtesy of Truth-Out.org.
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Read More… from Occupy Wall Street Homeland Security FoIA Documents
The Justice Department says it supports a multi-agency effort to create an online portal for Freedom of Information Act requests.
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From Open NDAA
Imagine that someone is put in charge of your personal budget, and authorizes all of your spending money for food, clothes, rent and fun. Now, imagine that person decides your budget in secret, without taking any input from you. Sounds like a terrible idea, right?
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From GPB News
ATLANTA—State lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that would introduce the first major changes to the state’s open meetings and records act in a decade. It would stiffen penalties for agencies that withhold open records and boards that hold meetings in secret.
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Read More… from Georgia Senate OKs Open Records Law Overhaul
From NextGov
The Obama administration takes petitions posted to its We the People website seriously and during weekly meetings discusses responses to those that cross the 25,000-signature threshold, officials said in a response and video posted Thursday.
The White House launched We the People in September, touting it as a one-stop shop for citizens to petition the federal government and as part of the Obama administration's larger commitment to open government.
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Read More… from White House to petitioners: We ARE listening
