Collected by Policy Intern Jacob Hutt.

Here is Tuesday’s look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events.

News Roundup:

Government

• President Obama issued an executive order to independent regulatory agencies asking them to examine existing regulations that are ineffective or inefficient. (The Hill)
• The U.S. and Brazil will meet today to launch the International Open Government Partnership, which will encourage governments to focus on transparency, accountability, and citizen participation, among other things. (techPresident)
• Darrell Issa’s experience as chairman of the House Oversight committee has thus far proved both parties’ predictions for him wrong, the Washington Post reports. (The Washington Post)
• Opinion: Recent efforts at enhancing transparency in federal spending are not without their shortcomings. (Washington Business Journal)
• Opinion: The OMB should allow the National Institutes of Health to continue with their public disclosure requirements. (POGO)

Revolving Door

• The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority proposed a new rule banning former regulators from appearing as clients or testifying as experts at FINRA within one year of leaving their positions. Similar rules already exist in other SEC entities. (Bloomberg)

Lobbying

• Corporations and lobbyists donate to politicians’ favorite charities in order to gain their approval, the Associated Press reports. (AP)

Ethics

• House Oversight Chair Darrell Issa sent a letter to President Obama’s top lawyer on Monday questioning whether the president has been engaging in illegal campaign activity while in the White House. (Politico)
• Budget architect Rep. Paul Ryan met for dinner with two economists and the table ordered $700-worth of wine. Ryan reportedly did not pay for the wine, possibly constituting a gift-related ethics violation. (TPM)

Access to Information

• The National Archives’ Wikipedian-in-residence has utilized crowd-sourcing as an innovative way to put more holdings online. His experience has proved as a model for other government agencies. (Next Gov)

State and Local

• The Oklahoma House Speaker ordered all interim legislative studies to be published online in an effort to enhance transparency. (The Norman Transcript) We’d like CRS to do the same!
• Students at the LBJ School of Public Affairs released a study describing progress towards open government in Texas. (Statesman)

International

• Opinion: In Australia, only regulating one class of lobbyists enables others to carry on without disclosure. (The National Times)

Relevant committee hearings scheduled for 7/12:

• None.

Relevant bills introduced:

• H.R. 2483. A bill to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Commodity Exchange Act to modify certain provisions relating to whistleblower incentives and protection; to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Transparency events scheduled for 7/12:

• Public Campaign film screening of Priceless. 5:00 pm. Capitol Visitors Center, Room CVC 268. East Capitol Street Northeast, Washington, D.C. 20515.
• Open Government Partnership: An International Discussion. U.S. Department of State. (Closed event.) 8:20am.
• Social Media for Government. July 12-15. The Melrose Hotel. 2430 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Washington, DC 20037.
• Open for Questions: Live Chat on Improving Federal Websites. White House. 4:00pm. Use the #dotgov hashtag on Twitter to ask questions. Tune in for the live chat at WhiteHouse.gov or the White House facebook app. Daniel wrote about this event earlier today and identified some of the questions we’d like answered.