In the age of the Internet, government is transparent only when public information is available online. The Public Online Information Act (POIA) is legislation, introduced by Rep. Steve Israel in the House and Sen. Jon Tester in the Senate, that embraces a new formula for transparency: public equals online. No longer will antiquated government disclosure practices bury public information in out-of-the-way offices and in outmoded formats.
POIA requires Executive Branch agencies to publish all publicly available information on the Internet in a timely fashion and in user-friendly formats. It also creates an advisory committee to help develop government-wide Internet publication policies.
05.12.10—The Helena Independent Record editorializes in favor of POIA: "A bill introduced last week by a Montana senator would go a long way in making our federal government more open and more responsive to its people, and as a result, put more trust back in our democratic process."
05.12.10—The Billings Gazette editorializes in favor of POIA. "Last week in Washington, D.C., Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., introduced legislation that would help bring federal government openness into the 21st century. The Public Online Information Act would require the executive branch to post all public documents online, to make them available at no charge to the public and expresses a sense of the Senate that legislative and judicial documents should be posted online, too."
05.12.10—The Spokesman-Review editorializes: "No wonder the Sunlight Foundation, a national organization that advocates for open government, last week saluted Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who has introduced a welcome new political app, known as the Public Online Information Act. A companion bill has been introduced in the House by Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y."
05.12.10—The Montana Policy Institute reports, "Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., is pushing a bill that would put many government documents online in a big public database."
05.07.10—The Missoula Editor writes, "We love sunshine here in the Missoulian newsroom, and I don’t just mean the occasional glimpses we get out the window. That’s why we’re cheering the Public Online Information Act introduced today by Montana Sen. Jon Tester."
Daniel Schuman writes on the Sunlight Foundation blog, "Senator Jon Tester introduced the Public Online Information Act (POIA) last week in the U.S. Senate, joining Representative Steve Israel who introduced virtually identical legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives in March. This is good legislation that would significantly improve government transparency. I’m going to unpack what it does, how it works, and clear up some misconceptions along the way."
Today, Senator Jon Tester introduced legislation that would revolutionize how the public gains access to government information. The Public Online Information Act (POIA) requires all government-held information that is already required to be publicly available to be posted online, subject to common-sense exceptions.
This is video from the March 15, 2010 press conference announcing the introduction of the Public Online Information Act. It features Representative Steve Israel, Sunlight Foundation Executive Director Ellen Miller, and Personal Democracy Forum co-founded Andrew Rasiej.
Information from Representative Steve Israel, sponsor of the Public Online Information Act.
Summary prepared by the Office of Representative Steve Israel (D-NY)
A coalition of more than 25 organizations called on Congress to hold hearings on the Public Online Information Act.
In the age of the Internet, government is transparent only when public information is available online.
Representative Steve Israel, Sunlight executive director and founder Ellen Miller, and Personal Democracy Forum Conference co-founder (and Sunlight technology advisor) Andrew Rasiej discuss transforming the idea "public means online" into legislation at PDF in 2009.