Since it was launched last year, The Telegraph’s Open Government Project has often highlighted the difficulty of getting access to government records, but this week, we want to acknowledge public servants in Nashua who went the extra mile to bring transparency to their work.
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Read More… from Open Gov’t Project: Branding project records released
While opposed by open-government advocates, a Senate bill advanced in the state Legislature this week – with amendments – to allow county council members to jointly attend any meetings or presentations without violating the state's Sunshine Law, as long as the gathering is open to the public.
An amended Senate Bill 2962 passed out of the Senate Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee on Tuesday. Among those on the committee, which voted unanimously in favor, was panel Vice Chairwoman and South and West Maui Sen. Roz Baker.
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Read More… from In Hawaii, open-government advocates are alarmed at advancing legislation
The open source movement can trace its beginnings to a famous strategy session held in Palo Alto, CA in February 1998, where the term "open source" was coined. That meeting led to the Open Source Definition, to advocacy for the use of open source software, and, fairly quickly, to worldwide recognition of open source principles.
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Read More… from The drive to open data provides opportunities for tech community
While there was a lot of hype about a report that the NYPD is testing Google Glass, in the short-term a policy-shift toward more accessible NYPD data has the potential to be more consequential for New Yorkers at large.
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Read More… from More Transparency on Agenda for NYPD and New York City Council
Let's face it. Both parties need new ideas.
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Read More… from Which Party Will Grab the Mantle of Transparency?
Michigan is facing a looming problem that is already affecting our schools and all levels of state government. This problem is our state’s unfunded accrued liability (UAL), also known as “legacy costs.” These costs are the difference between the retirement benefits promised to or earned by public employees and the amount of funds available to provide them.
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Read More… from OpEd: State’s $62 billion unfunded liability demands transparency
All but four states now post at least partial information online showing which companies are receiving economic development subsidies. But the quality and depth of that disclosure varies widely, both among and within states. Three-fourths of major state development programs still fail to disclose actual jobs created or workers trained, and only one in eleven discloses wages actually paid. The best disclosure practices are found in Illinois and Michigan, but even their scores would be near-failing as report card grades.
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Read More… from Corporate Incentives: Website Ranks States Transparency
On the occasion of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address this week, marking five years since he was sworn into office with the stated primary objective of turning around the post-crisis domestic economy, it’s worth asking: Is America safe from another economic crisis?
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Read More… from Rachel Marsden: Transparency must accompany financial oversight
Public officials often use various means to skirt transparency, and thus accountability.
Sometimes the motive is to fend off political opponents. Sometimes it’s because of some notion that too much transparency is the enemy of efficiency. Sometimes it’s because a public official actually has something to hide.
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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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