This week Sunlight marched up to Capitol Hill to deliver the petition signatures of more than 20,000 people who are demanding access to legislation for at least 72 hours before a new law is debated.

It’s simple: legislation affects all of our lives, and it’s a no-brainer that Americans be able to read and respond to a bill efore it’s passed – much less a no-brainer that our representatives should read it.

People signed the petition, called their member of Congress, took a picture, tweeted, and kept it in the news.

With over 20,000 signatures and counting, it was time to make sure the main proponents of the bill we want passed – sponsor Rep. Brian Baird (WA-3)  and John Culberson (TX-7) – knew that despite recent drawbacks, people still want this simple legislation.

We gave Reps. Baird and Culberson our “Sunlight on the Hill” award to thank them for their dedication, and also presented them with a giant USB drive containing all the signatories.  We’re digital folks, so a digital delivery seemed appropriate. As you an see in the video, the Representatives actually watched the names scroll through and looked into the eyes of those of you who sent in photos.

We promised there will be many thousands more to come, and we aim to deliver.

Let’s get Read the Bill passed.  We shouldn’t even need to be asking for this, it’s so fundamental to democracy.  Please ask your friends to sign the petition and call their member of Congress.

There’s just no longer an excuse for 72 hours not to be a bare minimum of what we can expect from our government.