For a while now, we have been advocating for opening up our government through the use of technology and the Internet.  A couple of bloggers in this roundup raise similarly interesting issues - one, focuses on creating efficiencies through technology - and the other, on providing searchable data using technology. However, the journey does not end when government embraces new media. Maintaining the conversations that initiated the creation of this media, is important because it ensures that both the citizens and their government are talking with and listening to each other.

• Fiscal responsibility and transparency in Oklahoma is set to improve. A new website containing data from the Oklahoma Office of State Finance, is now providing information on the state’s spending. AccountabilityOK is a user-friendly  transparency website that shows revenues and tax credits while enabling the public to hold their government accountable. Sid Burgess is offering a few cosmetic suggestions for the website but is quick to thank its creators for opening up government data, on Local Sid.

• A another new government website in Kentucky is now providing information for the uninsured under the revised national health care law. Created in part to get more people in the state more insured, the Kentucky Health Advocate provides health reform information including options on private insurance providers. Tara Kaprowy blogs more about this educational tool on Kentucky Health News.

• Yesterday, the Minnesota government, shutdown after lawmakers failed to agree on the state budget. Sam Richter’s experience in sales and marketing gives us a first hand view on the issues involved in the shutdown. He recommends using technology in government in order to increase efficiency. At the same time, he recognizes that leaders who still want to pass budgets that are in favor of major corporations, because they want to maintain political contributions from them, should start thinking long term and make decisions that will benefit the public. Read more on Know more blog.

• County employees may not be happy about it but residents in Baltimore, Maryland will now have a chance to see their local leaders’ salaries online. Found under the human resources section on the county’s website, the database will show the government employees’ gross pay and expenses. Raven Hill shares that the move was to increase transparency in the way government operates in Maryland.  See who gets paid most on Maryland Politics. 

In an interview with Newsweek, former U.S. President, Bill Clinton suggested lowering corporate tax rates as one of the ways of creating more jobs and solving the country's current debt problem. He added that this should be done together with a reduction of loopholes that cause unfair disparities among corporations. Here at Sunlight, Ryan recently used Influence Explorer, to connect the dots between tax breaks and money in politics. The former president's suggestion may have good intentions but left and unchecked, tax breaks to corporations which end up donating huge sums of money to political candidates, can determine the type of government we get.

• Details on the value of tax breaks in Oregon will now soon be available for the public to see. The state’s governor, John Kitzhaber has signed into law, House Bill 2825, which will require all information on tax breaks given to business -- including their names, addresses and the reasons why they are receiving the breaks -- to be posted on this website. According to Mark Robyn, the breaks have been likened by policy wonks, to government spending even though they receive less oversight. Nonetheless, taxpayer watchdog and consumer advocacy groups are welcoming the transparency news on Tax Policy blog.

• Politics of disclosure is at play in Minnesota. A conflict on what should and should not be disclosed is brewing between the Governor’s office and the legislature. Open government award recipient Rich Neumeister, who is certain there is secrecy in both state and local government, is making some suggestions: make data public; including all communication between the governor and the legislature. A legislature expert himself, Neumeister is well aware that the legislature may not be under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, but it is still answerable to the public and should therefore be transparent. Details on Open Secrets.

• A bill sponsored by Michael T. Morley is causing a stir in Utah. HB 220 - also commonly known as “We are a Republic” - is according to Curt Bentley, the latest form of contempt for the ordinary voter. Citing the previous disregard of public records laws with the introduction of HB 477, Bentley critics Utah’s caucus system as one that does not prevent indifference towards voters but instead renders them powerless to influence election results. Read more as he writes about the thin line between republicanism and guardianship and what democracy has to do with both, on Utah Political Summary

• Stacey Kalberman, Georgia’s Ethics Commission executive secretary, revealed earlier that she was being forced to resign in order to stop an ethics investigation of Gov. Nathan Deal. Now, journalism award winner, Jay Bookman, shares the details of the Commission’s meeting that led up to the former executive’s announcement of her resignation. Bookman adds that the pleasantries between the Ethics Commission and Kalberman only created more suspicion from the members of the press who feel that the Commission is not being transparent about the governor’s investigation. Jay Bookman has more.

• Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire will now continue to withhold records from a public records request under the rubric of the executive privilege. In a superior court ruling, over a lawsuit filed by the Freedom Foundation against the governor, a judge ruled that the executive privilege, that exempts the governor from disclosing public records, does apply. Dennis Box blogs that a follow up ruling to decide if the executive privilege is indeed part of 300-plus recognized statutory exemptions in the Public Records Act, has been scheduled. More on News Notes.

As mentioned earlier, the open government movement made major strides today -- when together with the Participatory Politics Foundation, we launched OpenGovernment Minnesota. This brings the total number of states covered by the OpenGovernment initiative, to six. As we continue to expand this project to include more states, we take note of individual citizens who are being proactive about tracking the legislature in their states. By so doing, we recognize that active citizen participation in government is the key to prompting change and increasing accountability. And we support this recognition by building tools that empower the public to see how their government is functioning. But our role can not simply be reduced to tracking bills. We need to be engaged in the rule making process and reinforcing Public Records Laws and Open Meetings Laws is one such way of doing that. All the while ensuring that the legislative system is not given "special treatment".

• Two years ago, the legislature in Bacon Hill, Massachusetts managed to exempt itself from  the requirements of the Public Records Law and the Open Meetings Law -- using a sweeping ethics reform bill. Now, there are four bills that have been introduced to subject the legislature to the open meetings law. Media and technology lawyer Robert Ambrogi, is challenging the lawmakers to pass these laws if they are true supporters of transparency. Will these bills see the light of day, unlike their predecessors that went no where? Read more on the media law blog.

• A new bill that will make all executive orders issued by the office of the mayor of New York City available on line, has been passed. Currently, the orders can only be accessed via requests through the Freedom of Information Law. Richard Yeh shares that open government advocates are applauding the bill because of the transparency and openness it will create. Legislative text from the bill shows that all memorandum of understanding and similar documents will be available on a government website starting April 1, 2012. See what else the bill says on the WNYC News blog.

• Public information from the governor’s office in Louisiana will soon be accessible to the public. A new bill that will significantly relax the state’s public records law by making all of the Governor’s documents including those related to budgetary issues, public, has been introduced. At the moment, the state is using Act 495 enacted in 2009, which exempts the governor from disclosing any material considered to be under a “deliberative process”. Chad Rogers is sure this bill will go a long way in restoring confidence in the public. Read more about how the bill will change Louisiana from being the only state that exempts the governor's records from disclosure on chadrogers.net

• The Cleveland Coalition, together with several open government supporters including the Sunlight Foundation, will be joining forces for the Transparency Action Plan Summit (TAP) to take place in Cuyahoga Ohio on July 29-30. The first of its kind in the region, the summit will bring together like-minds to discuss transparency initiatives that will make the county a leader in government transparency and public engagement. For more of the action plan details, head on over to Cleveland Coalition.

While advocating for writing and printing as one of the strongest pillars of support for free government -- the absence of which -- would be detrimental, the "father of FOI Anders Chydenius, in his "Memorandum on the Freedom of the Press" once said that...

Learning and good manners would be suppressed, coarseness in thought, speech and customs would flourish, and sinister gloom would within a few years darken our entire sky of freedom.

Though spoken in 1775, these words resonate with what is happening with FOIA today especially in states such as Illinois. It may not be outright coarseness in thought, but when decisions are made to suppress freedom of information, it becomes incumbent upon us to demand for even more "sunshine" from our leaders.

• A bill that will delay FOIA requests and authorize a public body to charge a records requester for the actual cost of retrieving and transporting public records from an off-site storage facility, has been passed by both the Senate and House in Illinois. Sponsored by Don Harmon and Barbara Flynn Currie, HB 1716 will prioritize requests made by “infrequent requesters” while deliberately delaying those made by “recurrent requesters”. Carl Skinner wonders if this is Harmon’s idea of reform for the Freedom of Information Act and points out that the bill was passed based on suggestions made by government bodies instead of consulting the public. He details who voted for and against it on McHenry County Blog.

• For a state that was once ranked 49th by the 2008 Better Government Association Integrity Index , Vermont is set to turn a new transparency page. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a bill that will strengthen the state’s public records law by requiring reimbursement of legal fees for citizens who successfully challenge a denied request for documents. Authored by Rep. Donna G. Sweaney, H 73 will establish a government transparency office to enforce the public records act. Sheldon Toplitt adds that the new law will also create a panel to review the over 200 exemptions currently existing. More on the Unruly of Law.

• There is a group improving local government transparency in Minnesota by pushing for  standardized financial reporting with details of the state’s spending including public officials’ salaries and expenses. Open Government Minnesota, is proposing a business-like approach “Object Code”, to  provide access to data that can be used to create an open public discussion.  Read how this will boost transparency in local government on Big Fat Finance Blog.

• There is a new tool that is revolutionizing the way government functions and communicates with its citizens. Youtown -- a mobile device that provides a two-way interaction between citizens and their government -- is fast becoming a popular way of making mobile local government easy. Created by DotGov , a Seattle startup, the tool is now being used by several states including Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. Aislyn Greene writes that though residents will use the tool for free, local governments will have to pay to access feedback. See who else is using it on Venture Blog.

In his book, The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records, Charles N. Davis analyzes a study by Michael G. Powell on understanding the culture of government records. Powell's quest to find out if FOIA may obscure more than it clarifies on how to access public records, revealed that the process may produce paranoia. This paranoia is manifested in a bureaucracy from government agencies that feel like the public is out to get them and as for the public, the feeling that the government is up to no good. This study may not have found that FOIA reduces corruption, but it implies that some public officials may get better at hiding public information, posing an even tougher challenge for citizens who do not know how to ferret this information out. But this should not be the case. Davis sums it up by encouraging us to understand the dynamic between people and their government. By so doing, we learn that records custodians are individuals who are part of a systematic tension which we should get skilled at  navigating.

• Freedom of information in Connecticut is in trouble -- at least, according to Mitchell W. Pearlman, the retired 30-year Freedom of Information (FOI) Director for the state. In a new proposed bill that Pearlman had a chance to see, but has not yet been disclosed to the public, FOI will be merged into a super agency with other transparency-focused agencies (including the Office of State Ethics and State Elections Enforcement Commission) to become the Office of  Government Accountability. One of the super agency’s proposed duties would be to create efficiencies by merging similar agencies while seemingly saving the tax payer money. To show how this new proposal will not be saving taxpayers money, but in fact increasing costs, Pearlman breaks it down with the possible outcomes. Jon Lender is putting it all in perspective on Capitol Watch.

• Wes Hare, City manager of Albany, Oregon is seeking “transparency at any cost.” While taking pride in awards for Albany’s open government movement, Hare questions the State Attorney General, John Kroger’s recent proposal to improve transparency by limiting government charges for retrieving public records because he thinks it’s a “cost burden on taxpayers.” His recommendation? Government should be allowed to maintain some control over public records. See how he makes a case for it on We Share.

• A performance based budget bill that will require agencies to set benchmarks and goals and be held accountable for their spending priorities, has been passed in Nevada. The Assembly Bill 248 is part of the state government reform plan to be more transparent, efficient and accountable. While it will give the state’s governor the power to authorize executive agencies to conduct public hearings on the proposed budget, it will also require the posting of performance on the Department of Administration website. Geoffrey Lawrence reveals how this bill is a result of the Nevada Policy Research Institute study, “Better Budgeting for Better Results”. He applauds the Nevada legislature on Write on Nevada.

• A new joint committee on transparency and open government will soon be operational in Maryland. Created through HB766 with Delegate Heather Mizeur as the lead sponsor, the Committee will make recommendations on state transparency goals and policies. Nick Judd talked to Delegate Mizeur who believes the committee can also be used as “a way to make more transparent opportunities for contracting in the state.” Judd asserts that it still remains to be seen where the money to fund this committee will come from, as he details other improvements made by Gov. O’Malley, including his hiring of a state Chief Innovation Officer. He asks whether Maryland is becoming The Open Government State on techPresident.

• The city of Georgetown in South Carolina may have started off on a good note by posting their weekly spending online, but Dan Golden writes that this is no longer so. He writes that the essence of accountability is understanding  that the purpose of publishing spending documents is not just for the taxpayers’ benefit, but for government officials to know that this information is available for the public. Could City Councilman Paige Sawyer have feigned ignorance about the city’s spending information not being made public? Details on The Opinion Blog.

In our still on going campaign to tell our governors to support open government, we stand beside citizen activists who want to see an end to the roll back of transparency laws. We are dedicated to equipping the public with tools with-which to demand for accountability, and have developed various resources including open government.org,  an open-source public resource website for government transparency and civic engagement at the state and local levels. So far, we have covered California, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, and Wisconsin with Minnesota to be launched soon.  Montana's recent strike at open government reaffirms the need to continuously-- as Pete Weitzel, former director of the Coalition of journalists for Open Government puts it-- "turn a public official's 'right to no' into your 'right to know'."

• Last week, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed a bill that would have created a website with the state’s budget and spending details. Proposed by Rep.Tom Burnett, HB 444 would have enabled the public to search, retrieve and download information about the state finances including state budgets, revenues, appropriations and expenditures. But Gov. Schweitzer thwarted the bill with claims that at an estimated $400,000, the website would be too costly and did not have an “ investment on return for the tax payer”. Michael Noyes writes more on Montana Watchdog.

• The city of New York unveiled a “Road Map for the Digital City” -- a project that will feature APIs for city data and plans that will change the way government information is presented online. Open government entrepreneurs are optimistic that the Road Map will give the city’s startups an advantage through integrating media and technology while widening access to wifi in public parks. Anil Dash, who is confident the web is a public space, adds that this would be a valuable opportunity for citizens to be engaged through technology. Read more on Anil Dash.

• Last week, we highlighted a post that mentioned Oregon's move to strengthen their public records. Now, A.J. O’Connell is writing that the opposition from some government agencies including the League of Oregon Cities, that  has hired lobbyists to try and prevent the bill from becoming law, may cause a problem. His attempt at reaching out to the state’s Attorney General to show that Creswell, his city, is not aligned with the lobbyists intentions, have been swept under the rug. What is he hoping to do next to save open government in Portland? Find out on A.J. for Creswell.

• A bill that would limit the reach of public records in Raleigh, NC was proposed on the grounds that productivity of government workers searching for, organizing and providing information requested by the public, will be reduced. Daniel O’Leary is proposing an easier way: turning the documents into electronic format! Through LinDoc which creates electronic e-forms, that connect directly to a universal repository, the public and reporters are able to search and find public records for themselves, eliminating the need for government staffers to do this task. In cases where some records have to be paid for, O’Leary recommends using WebLink which is already being used by other states. Read more of his compelling argument on Capture Expert blog.

A search using our Influence explorer, for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, reveals that between 2003-2010, the governor received a total $32,131,191 in donations.  The tool, that provides itemized contributions reported by political candidates to the Federal Election Commission and state agencies, gives you details of donations down to the exact change. And where as some may not care about the loose change, it is the unlimited money flowing in from individuals and Political Action Committees, that prompted Gov. Corbett's predecessor, Gov. Ed Rendell, to put campaign finance reform, top on his do list. But not before he raised over $30 million in his 2006 re-election. The back peddling on the state's campaign finance reform has forced several groups including the Pennsylvania Association for Government Relations to rally behind enforcing limits on campaign contributions. Unfortunately, some officials are  not taking the law seriously...

• Campaign finance laws are starting to take precedence in some states, but according to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s 9th District city councilor, Ricky Burgess, that doesn’t matter. Burgess recently failed to file his campaign finance report on the grounds that no one observes the laws controlling them and is trying to change those laws: he’s introduced legislation that would repeal Pittsburgh’s campaign finance reforms. In Chris Potter’s opinion, the councilman’s act of protest undermines the law, especially when there is no proof that the law is meaningless. You can check out Potter’s suspicions of conflict of interest in his chronicle of the city’s controversial campaign finance reforms on Slag Heap.

• Oregon’s reputation for making public records available is set to get even better. The state’s Attorney General John Kroger has proposed a new bill that would centralize records laws and remove close to 100 existing exemptions. The Senate Bill 41 will subject state and local government agencies to deadlines for submitting public records while limiting the fee charged to access these records. Dave Fiskum adds that this may cause controversy, especially among the League of Oregon Cities, which is already expressing concern about being able to meet the deadlines. Read how opposers of this bill -- in retaliation -- have proposed Senate Bill 346 and House Bill 2043 that will bar media from accessing 911 calls and create further exemptions respectively on Oregon Insider.

• In a recent video, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is asking for a “sweeping ethics reform” to require legislators to disclose who they represent before the state. In a call to clean up Albany and restore public trust in government, Cuomo reached out to New Yorkers and urged them to ask their legislators to pass ethics reforms that clarify who they are working for and for how much. Only then will the state regain its history of being diligent in fighting corruption. Jon Campbell shares more of the governor’s web video and transcript on Politics on the Hudson.

• A new bill that will reduce the fine for violating public records act -- dropped from $5 dollars to $0 per day -- has been approved by Washington’s Governor, Chris Gregoire. Supporters of this bill have praised it saying it will eliminate the insincere use of the state’s Public Records Act while others, including the Washington Coalition for Open Government, opposed it saying public agencies would not have to pay any fees if they followed the law. The Governor, who is a renown open government advocate, stands by the bill and feels that public agencies should not pay any fees because this burden ultimately falls on the tax payer. Political reporter Jared Paben’s post invokes interesting comments including a concern that violators of the act should be given at least a slap on the wrist instead of a free pass. More on Politics Blog.

• OpenGov West (where our very own Nicole Aro is today) has been coined as a conference where “governments & the public come together to discuss open government, transparency, collaboration and participation.” Appearing on the panel on Usability: Strategies for revamping government websites for transparency, accessibility and ease of use, is Gordon Ross who thinks government can learn from interaction designers . Bryan Robertson explains that this conference’s mission is to view knowledge as power because it provides citizens with tools to help them make informed decisions. Read details on Open Road.

Earlier we wrote about how Maine was moving towards listening to calls for transparency. Now, we are happy that other open government supporters especially those with grassroot foundations based in the state, have stocked up enough fire to prompt the drafting of better legislation. This is not to say that the journey is over. When we each play our role in our individual capacity, its only a matter of time before the grip of graft weakens and ultimately frees the public to demand for accountability from their government.

• The Maine Heritage Policy Center and the Maine Civil Liberties Union has teamed up with other transparency supporters to take on barriers to open government in the state. They are proposing a new bill that would improve Maine’s Freedom of Access Act. The LD 1465 will, among other things, ensure that public is notified about public meetings at least 3 days before they are to happen while setting time limits for government to comply with Freedom of Access Act requests. The bill, which recently had its first hearing, was received with mixed reactions from the crowd in attendance, but Sam Adolphsen blogs that most of its opponents were working in or lobbying for government. See how he breaks down supporters and opposers of the LD 1465 on Maine Freedom Forum.

• The state of Florida has launched a mobile version of its website. Mixing some caffeine with her law degree, Sarah Rumpf tested the site and is raving about how the House of Florida is literally now in the palm of your hands. The site, which lets you navigate session times, committee members and find your representatives, was first mentioned by Peter Schorsch . You can visit the web version here. Read more on Sunshine State Sarah.

• Rhode Island is now posting their assembly committee votes online. The Committee votes help residents select a committee they are interested in and reveals details of each vote and how members of a specific committee are selected. The votes will be available either the day of the hearing or after, and can now be accessed at this website. Randal Edgar shares more on Projo Politics blog.

• South Dakota Secretary of State Jason Gant is planning to computerize the state’s campaign finance records so that donations will be searchable by donor. Gant hopes to lead by example (he currently posts all his campaign finance reports online) by changing the presently disorganized form of posting reports from flat, non-searchable PDF formatted documents into a dynamic database much like OpenSecrets.org’s Donor Lookup. Cory Heidelberger, who feels no obligation to play nice to small town politicians, is commending the Secretary for this move. See how on Madville Times.

• Efforts to review Illinois’ redistricting reform may have failed last year, but David Yepsen is reminding us that there is still time. His post “Consider California, Florida Redistricting Models”, raises hope that if redistricting is done by commissions and without consideration to party registrations or residency, just as the two states are doing, then the likelihood of drawing district lines in favor of one party will be eliminated. Whichever option the state chooses, Yepsen advises legislators to conduct a transparent process that restores public trust from the voters. More on A Tie to Politics.

Now here is an interesting argument about the legitimacy of the term "open government". In her "Why "Open government" is terrible branding (or whatever happened to participation and collaboration?)", Nancy Scola questions the use of the buzz word while pointing out the Obama administration's attempts at using technology to show accountability. But if you are like me and often inter-changeably use open government with transparency, Scola advises that we should instead engage in innovative ways that expand the term to include transparency, participation and collaboration, instead of just playing a watchdog role that limits us to keeping tabs on what should be transparent. Rebbecca Wilson shows us how we can do this...

• Wilson makes a compelling case for why Waukesha county in Wisconsin needs transparency and accountability in elections. She details the recent race for the state's Supreme Court justice where both candidates are now considering a recount. Her discussion highlights the importance of not entrusting an entire electoral process with only one election official -- as it was with the county's clerk Kathy Nickolaus -- because such a process breeds public distrust in the system. And in a way of offering solutions, she suggests a routine audit of the electoral process especially when paper ballots are used and reporting election results on election night. More on Save our Votes.

• Westchester County in New York is looking for transparency in little know places - small contracts. In the spirit of letting the taxpayer know where their money is going, legislator Sheila Marcotte is asking the county's board of legislators to put the small contracts (which add up to big money) on line. She hopes that by so doing, the often disguised county budget spending will be put to light. Gerald McKinstry shares more on Yorktown and Cortlandt region.

• Arizona has discovered a way out of preventing bankruptcy triggered by payroll obligations and promoting transparency at the same time. Inspired by a Goldwater Institute report that recommended a method of bidding out city services that requires the bidder to take on the responsibility of employee benefits,  SB SB1322 has been introduced to address the state’s fiscal status. Goldwater’s Nick Dranias, who is certain that this is a “managed competition approach,” is asking Governor Jan Brewer to support the bill. Why is Dranias sure it will also give the public access to information of exactly how much city services cost? It’s all on the State Brief.

• Cook County in Illinois has created an open data portal with aggregated public data in a machine-readable format. Erika Slife shares that once the page is ready, both the public and computer programs will be invited to develop new tools that customize data. The Chief Information Officer for the county, Greg Wass has already put aside money for the webpage, which is still in its development stages. See how this project is going to make the Cook County website easier to use on Clout Street.

When it comes to public records, different states have different exemptions. What is exempted in one state, may not necessarily be exempted in another. Take an example of  New Jersey. Under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), State or federal statutes and regulations, Executive Orders, Rules of Court, and privileges created by State Constitution, statute, court rule or judicial case law are specifically exempted from disclosure.  While the California Public Records Act makes available all public information because it believes that "access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person." So when we see states making an effort to open up their governments even more, we make a note of it. Just as we are doing with Oregon.

• A new proposed amendment to Senate Bill 41 in Oregon will reduce exemptions that allow public records to be kept private. The proposal was introduced during a conference organized by the Oregon Library Association, where several government transparency projects were discussed, including the Oregon Transparency website and data.oregon.gov which lets you build your own graphs using state government data. Check out Chrystal Reeves blog post as she writes more about the integration of state and federal agency data on Oregon Legal Research.

• In his blog post “Ethics Laws Potentially to Get Quick Fix; Push For Comprehensive Reform to Come Next Year,” Charlie Harper recommends a comprehensive ethics reform for Georgia that is funded by an investigative Ethics Commission. Sparked by the recent ruling of Georgia’s ethics Commission that declared that gifts and expenses on legislature staff will be exempted from disclosure requirements and cripple transparency, Harper believes that a well funded Commission will restrict lobbyists from influencing the state’s decision makers. Take a look at how he rationalizes it on Peach Pundit.

• Governor Dannel Malloy has a solution for Connecticut’s fiscal crisis: balance the budget with $2 billion in employee concessions. But while writing about an article in the Middletown Press , Jonathan Pelto expressed that he feels that the governor should be more open about where  he hopes to get the money from. Pelto argues that even with the state employee give backs, the  governor will not be able to make up the difference needed to balance the budget so the questionable conclusion is that  the ongoing negotiations between the state unions and the governor’s administration may not be as transparent as they are made out to be. Find details on the New Haven Advocate.

• State purchasing officers in Oklahoma will soon be able to use a public Wiki to report items that are on a mandated state purchasing schedule thanks to a recently introduced House Bill. Authored by Jason Murphey and state Senator Clark Jolley, HB 1086 will also enable the creation of a website that will help policy makers and the public to monitor state projects from start to finish. Murphey shows how this bill will improve communication between purchasing offices and potential vendors interested in bidding for government business on the House district 31.

• Proposed legislation in Maryland, House Bill 173 is about to make Invest Maryland -- a venture capital program -- the most easily accessible website in the state. The program, which will require disclosure of all funds and credits that the state invests in a company, will also provide details of the state’s spending programs, including annual reports from the Department of Business and Economic Development. Megan Poinski blogs that this will increase the state’s public records availability. Read more on Annapolitics.