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.
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. ?
Thirty organizations from across the political spectrum joined together to ask Congress to improve public access to legislative information. Our joint letters to congressional appropriators and rulemakers urges Congress to direct that the THOMAS legislative database be published online and to establish an advisory committee on further improvements.
March 8, 2012
Re: FINRA Requests Comment on Ways to Facilitate and Increase Investor Use of BrokerCheck Information
We are commenting on FINRA’s February 2012 proposal on “Ways to Facilitate and Increase Investor Use of BrokerCheck Information.” As advocates for open data, we are disturbed that the proposal lacks any mention of making the data underlying FINRA’s BrokerCheck website search available for download in electronic, machine readable format.
Click here to read the full text of these comments.
The Sunlight Foundation submitted testimony regarding improving bulk access to THOMAS legislative information to the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch for a hearing scheduled on February 6, 2012.
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