That's easy for him to say — easy for House Republicans to hear — because they were in the room.
The other 19 million people of Florida were locked out. It's their money, their lives, their environment and their schools that are affected by what the Legislature does. It's just none of their business.
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In an era where the government collects more information than ever before, the importance of maintaining public access to that information becomes a bigger concern with each passing year.
That point isn’t lost on U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono. Serving as a member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee — in her freshman term, it should be noted — she has paid particular attention to the Freedom of Information Act, the venerable 50-year-old law that requires the public disclosure of records held by the federal government.
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DeFuniak Springs City Councilman Kermit Wright really, really, really doesn’t like Florida’s open-government, or sunshine, laws. And he doesn’t mind saying so. “The sunshine law is a communist plot straight out of Stalin,” he told the Daily News’ Tom McLaughlin the other day. “I don’t like it or anything that restricts free speech. It’s against everything I stand for.”
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Akron City Council often flouts rules designed to allow the public to follow city government and weigh in on proposals before they become law.
Akron's city charter requires legislation to be posted online by noon Friday, in advance of Monday City Council meetings, to give residents the weekend to review proposals. But council regularly blows by the deadline, and sometimes legislation is changed or rewritten hours before it's voted into law, without any opportunity for members of the public to respond.
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Read More… from Akron City Council routinely approves legislation public hasn’t seen
The city of Cincinnati says it is enhancing transparency by sharing the city’s data with the general public in a new way.
Open Data Cincinnati will allow anyone to browse through various datasets of information collected by the city to document how the government operates, officials said at an announcement Wednesday.
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Read More… from Cincinnati creates new site to share city’s data with residents
Buried in a massive Pew study on the public's feelings about data and open government is this amazing nugget: Just 23 percent trust the federal government to do the right thing "at least most of the time."
Twenty three percent! That's unpopularity-of-Congress territory. Journalist-trust territory! Donald Trump's approval ratings look down on those numbers!
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Read More… from Opinion: There are a remarkably small number of people who trust the government
President Barack Obama once proclaimed his administration to be the most transparent in history, but a new survey suggests Americans have mixed thoughts on whether new initiatives to open government and its data will make a significant difference in holding the powerful accountable.
A report released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, in conjunction with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, found that most Americans are not engaged with using government data sources. Just 7 percent say local governments share their information effectively.
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Read More… from Americans not impressed by open government initiatives
State Sen. Dan Duffy is fighting to move forward a bill to reform the Illinois Open Meetings Act in the wake of a closed-session debacle over a now-scuttled proposal for a power plant in Oakwood Hills.
House Bill 175 seeks to create a two-year statute of limitations on the ability by the public to report potential violations of the act within 60 days of their discovery. The bill, filed by state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Lake Barrington, passed the House a month ago on a 110-0 vote, and has now moved to the Senate Executive Committee.
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Read More… from Open Meetings Act bill inspired by Oakwood Hills moving in Illinois Senate
Delaware Gov. Jack Markell has blocked an attempt by a lawmaker and a leading open government advocate to publicize the "secret" email address the governor uses to conduct public business.
But the governor's top lawyer acknowledged that Markell's pseudonym is among the "worst-kept secrets in state government," saying that members of the media, including The News Journal, have requested records from the account.
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Read More… from Gov. Jack Markell blocks access to ‘secret’ email
At the Better Government Association, we’re also following another “season”—the annual legislative session in Springfield.
As we head into the final innings, the box score indicates the General Assembly is playing “small ball” — moving ahead on bills aimed at eliminating a few more unnecessary units of government, expanding transparency, increasing civic engagement, and improving the criminal justice system.
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Read More… from Opinion: Andy Shaw: Don’t weaken Illinois Freedom of Information Act
