NEWS ROUNDUP:

Government

• STOCK Act delayed in Congress to deal with potential problems: In order to fix troubles with the STOCK Act, such as unintentional disclosure of covert identities and legal use of confidential information by the spouses and family members of the legislators, Congress has moved the deadline to implement the act to Sept. 30.(Politico)
• ACLU, representing federal employees, sues to fight STOCK Act: Citing privacy problems that could lead to identity theft–or worse–of federal employees, a group of potentially affected officials has enlisted the American Civil Liberties Union to sue against some new disclosure rules in the bill. (Politico)
• Republicans ask for personal email addresses of White House staffers: House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa has written a letter to Chief of Staff Jack Lew asking for disclosure of government-related emails sent from personal addresses. This request stems from a recent report that included emails sent by Obama campaign manager Jim Messina that indicated he was skirting disclosure laws. (Politico)

State/Local

• More details on Palo Alto’s open data plan: Palo Alto, Calif., has recently launched an open data platform, and its chief information officer answered a few questions about how and why the city implemented this plan. (O’Reilly Radar)
• Illegal trust donations to campaigns in Iowa, but no legal action: An error by the state’s Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board has allowed trusts to donate to PACs (who then give to candidates) without disclosure in Iowa, despite state regulations that require it. This has allowed three trusts to donate to Iowans for Tax Relief, a conservative PAC, without revealing to whom the trust belongs. (Des Moines Register)
• State supreme court deems Nebraska campaign finance limitations unconstitutional: Nebraska’s Campaign Finance Limitation Act, which, among other things, allots publicly funded candidates extra money if a privately funded candidate spends a certain amount of money, has been ruled unconstitutional by the state’s supreme court. (Lobby Comply Blog)

RELEVANT BILLS INTRODUCED:

• H.R. 1950: To enact title 54, United States Code, “National Park System”, as positive law. “The head of a Federal agency, or other public official receiving grant assistance pursuant to this division, after consultation with the Secretary, shall withhold from disclosure to the public information about the location, character, or ownership of a historic property if the Secretary and the agency determine that disclosure may (1) cause a significant invasion of privacy; (2) risk harm to the historic property; or (3) impede the use of a traditional religious site by practitioners.” Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
• H. Res. 750: Providing for the concurrence by the House in the Senate amendment to H.R. 1905, with an amendment. “Upon receiving a notice under paragraph (3) that an annual or quarterly report includes a disclosure of an activity described in paragraph (1), the Commission shall promptly […] (B) make the information provided in the disclosure and the notice available to the public by posting the information on the Internet website of the Commission.” Passed/agreed to in House.

OVER THE WEEKEND:

• None.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES:

• None.

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