open government – Page 25 – National Freedom of Information Coalition

Editorial: Proof Government should be an open book

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Daily News – A position we often take on the Editorial Page is that Washington has some of the strongest state laws in the nation protecting openness and transparency in government processes and decision-making and that those laws should be honored and, when necessary, vigorously protected.

The Washington Coalition for Open Government, a citizens lobby, fights this battle almost every day. With the WCOG’s permission, we’re going to dip into their files today for an example of why we feel this issue is important not just to us, but to everyone.

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No Open Records bills in store in South Dakota legislative session

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Gov. Dennis Daugaard and Attorney General Marty Jackley will not reprise last year’s largely ineffective efforts to increase public access to government records.

South Dakota lawmakers shot down five of the eight open government bills Daugaard and Jackley presented with help from a summer work group last year, including what would have been the most significant reforms. This year, neither man has those failed bills on his legislative agenda.

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Open Data: Good For Citizens & Government

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Governments and citizens across the country and around the world are demonstrating the powerful benefits that can be created by making government data available and accessible to the public.

We see it in the form of increased fiancial transparency in states such as Massachusetts, Maine, and Alabama, which have launched Open Checkbook websites that let residents view how their tax dollars are being spent.

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Kansas Attorney General proposes open government unit

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The office of Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is proposing a special two-person unit within his agency devoted solely to investigating Kansas Open Meetings Act and Kansas Open Records Act complaints.

The measure has the support of the Kansas Press Association. Doug Anstaett, the organization's executive director, told a legislative committee Tuesday that housing an open government unit within the attorney general's office would send a message that such complaints are a high priority.

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By shrinking FOIA’s scope, (VA) General Assembly aims to cover up misbehavior

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Two bills submitted for the upcoming session of the General Assembly — one in the House, one in the Senate — are designed to restrict the public’s access to information about wrongdoing by public officials.

These restrictions will make it more difficult for taxpayers to learn about misuse of their money by local governments, school boards, and state-run colleges and universities.

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Your Right to Know: Wisconsin Local Government Center a valuable resource

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Each election year in Wisconsin, about one-third of the local government offices on the ballot will be filled by newcomers — driven to office by a reformer’s zeal or a desire to serve their friends and neighbors. And some of them will know little about the laws that govern the conduct of local government.

That’s where the UW-Extension’s Local Government Center steps in.

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5 reasons why good governments should embrace open data

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Jonathan Reichental is the CIO of the City of Palo Alto, Calif., and one of the world’s leading proponents of open data. Why is he so big the idea of giving citizens access to the data their governments collect? Because even in times of recession and debt, he said on our Structure Show podcast this week, the one thing governments always have in abundance is data. And it belongs to the people.

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Socrata and New York City Ring In New Year with Open Checkbook Collaboration

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SEATTLE — Socrata (www.socrata.com), a Seattle-based cloud software company focused exclusively on democratizing access to government data, today announced a partnership with New York City to make it dramatically easier and more cost effective for cities, counties and states to transparently disseminate their spending data.

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Year in Review: Better transparency, clearer rules would help PA redistricting process in 2021

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HARRISBURG – In the aftermath of a legal battle over redrawing Pennsylvania’s state House and state Senate district maps, one key player believes the commission charged with redistricting the state every 10 years can do better with more transparency and clearer rules. Continue…

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COMPLY-Investor advocates push to see trove of arbitration records

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From Reuters: Dec 5 (Reuters) – A long-running battle over whether the top U.S. securities regulator should release records about its supervision of Wall Street’s arbitration process is about to go another round, this time with input from a vocal consumer advocate.

For nearly four years, a group of lawyers has been pushing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to release documents about its oversight over how the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority selects arbitrators who hear legal disputes between brokerages and investors.

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