A pledge circulated by advocates of government transparency to garner support for the state’s Freedom of Information Act has yielded additional signatures since it was reissued earlier this month.
None of the latest round of signatures came from New London or Windham counties.
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Read More… from FOIA pledge garners more signatures, but none locally
IN EARLY December, President Obama announced a series of measures aimed at closing the gap between citizens and law enforcement. One of those measures was a plan to distribute $263 million in funding for agencies to purchase body cameras that can be used during police interactions with citizens.
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Read More… from Opinion: When governments open their files, the public benefits
A good government is one that responds to the wishes of the public. But the public cannot know how responsive its government is when much of what government does lies outside public view. Hence the need for transparency, the handmaiden of accountability.
A new coalition, Transparency Virginia, has been formed to monitor and improve openness at the state level. It will focus on the sometimes overlooked mechanics: meeting notices, ensuring that all bills get heard, and the recording of votes in committees and subcommittees.
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Read More… from Editorial: state government: More transparency
The Wichita City Council can decide to increase transparency in regards to spending, or let it remain being spent in secret.
The City of Wichita has three surrogate quasi-governmental agencies that are almost totally taxpayer-funded, specifically Go Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau, Wichita Downtown Development Corporation, and Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition. Each agency contends it is not a “public agency” as defined in Kansas law, and therefore does not have to fulfill records requests.
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Read More… from Wichita’s chance to increase government transparency on spending
Government transparency is a favorite — and necessary — topic of the fourth estate. The push and pull for a more open government is constant here in Vermont and across the nation.
On Monday, a victory in this battle was won as the Senate passed The FOIA Improvement Act of 2014, a bill aimed at easing disclosure of records under the Freedom of Information Act. The bill was introduced by Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
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The Obama administration is "walking the walk" on government transparency by asking the public to help write a guide for agencies on ways to engage the public.
"This resource reflects the commitment of the government and civic partners to measurably improve participation programs, and is designed using the same inclusive principles that it champions," wrote Corinna Zarek, White House senior adviser for open government, and Justin Herman, SocialGov lead for the General Services Administration, in a blog post announcing the Public Participation Playbook.
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Read More… from White House crowdsources open-government playbook
So this “lame duck” Congress may not be so lame after all – at least when it comes to increasing government transparency.
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Read More… from A Rare Glimpse of Bipartisanship on Open Government
One of the core values of the American experiment is the idea of transparency.
Citizens have a right to know what their government is up to – how tax dollars are being spent, what public servants do while on the job, and why certain decisions are made that affect our communities.
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Read More… from Opinion: 10 times the government stonewalled requests for information
Thanks to whistleblowers like Chelsea Elizabeth Manning and Edward Snowden, we are learning to ask what our government knows like informed citizens in a democratic republic should. Manning and Snowden sacrificed their freedom to increase government transparency.
You can uncover a lot of information without the possible risks of whistleblowing using the freedom of information act — FOIA. The FOIA allows people to formally ask the government questions and receive documents that answer those questions.
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Read More… from Editorial: Staying well informed is a great way to protect your freedom
Press release from MLRC and NFOIC:
By Amaris Elliott-Engel, MLRC Legal Fellow
NFOIC’s third biennial joint study with the New York-based Media Law Resource Center (MLRC) showed a continuation of trends that are troubling to open government advocates.
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Read More… from 2013 NFOIC/MLRC Open Government Survey Showed Troubling Trends for Transparency
