Sunlight Foundation

Policy

The Sunlight Foundation's policy team is helping to create a more open, transparent government.

Our policy work joins issue expertise with an open, innovative approach to advocacy, bringing technology to analysis and lobbying, and adding substantive detail to our vision for digitally empowered governance and citizenship.

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Featured Resource

Ellen Miller Testimony on DISCLOSE Act 2012

Sunlight’s Ellen Miller is submitting testimony in support of the DISCLOSE Act. In dismantling 100 years of prohibitions against corporate treasury funds being used to elect candidates, the Supreme Court, in the Citizens United case put a great deal of faith in the idea that disclosure will remove the taint of corruption from the new influx of cash. The majority opinion observed that the Internet is becoming the best way to hold politicians and influencers accountable. But, the Court created an entirely new spending regime for which no disclosure system is in place. For online transparency to perform the functions ascribed to it by the Citizens United ruling, Congress has to create new laws that reflect the new reality of expanded independent spending. DISCLOSE 2012 creates that system of transparency and as such should receive wide support from members on both sides of the aisle. The DISCLOSE Act introduced earlier this year goes straight to heart of the problem: the lack of transparency for unlimited, dark money and the influence it has on our elections and our elected officials. The updated bill removes extraneous and controversial provisions that plagued an earlier version of DISCLOSE, instead focusing on what the public demands — transparency.

Recent Policy Documents

  • Daniel Schuman Testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

    On March 13, 2013 Daniel Schuman testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He outlined the state of transparency in the Federal government and legislature and identified specific actions that could lead to greater openness.

    He urged Congress to pass several important pieces of legislation including the DATA Act, the Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act, the Presidential Library Donation Reform Act, and amendments to the Federal Advisory Committee Act. He also suggested that the committee should explore legislation relating to FOIA, the Open Government Directive, access to Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinions, and more.

  • Getting Past Groundhog Day: Auditing the Government's Open Data Policy

    A talk delivered at an American Council for Technology conference on February 14, 2013, on the importance of creating a government-wide policy to audit and index the information it holds.

    Available in PDF here.

    When it comes to Open Data Policies, today is Groundhog Day. We've come a long way since the Paperwork Reduction Act, first passed in 1980, which called on each agency to ensure that the public has timely and equitable access to the agency's public information; and things have changed since OMB's Circular A-130, first issued in 1985, which calls for the protection of the public's right of access to government information. We now have websites, bulk downloads, APIs, and a shiny new Digital Government Strategy. But when it comes to how agencies share access to the information they hold, we're barely halfway through the movie.

  • Senate Rules Changes: Sunlight's Proposals for the 113th Congress

    The United States Senate is a creature of its rules. Through its standing rules, laws and resolutions, precedents, and the consent of its members, the upper chamber carefully controls how legislation can be promulgated and debate can take place.

    Unlike the House of Representatives, which must vote on its rules every Congress, the Senate rarely reconsiders its standing rules in their entirety. An opportunity may arise, however, with the current debate over changing how the filibuster works. Here are Sunlight's major recommendations for updating the Senate's rules.

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