2Day in #OpenGov 10/26/2011

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Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post.

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

News Roundup:

Government
  • Yesterday, Google released a country based breakdown of government requests for its data. Google received more than 15,000 requests for user data between January and June. Google normally acquiesces, at least in part, to government demands for legal reasons. They have began releasing the data after a showdown that resulted in the company shifting operations to Hong Kong to avoid China’s rigid censorship requirements. (AP/Yahoo)
  • Opinion: The government should institute open data standards that would improve operational efficiency, service delivery, and transparency. (Federal Computer Week)
Campaign Finance
  • Democrats are jumping on the Super PAC bandwagon, but it appears that their traditional base of large donors is skeptical about following them. (Politico)
  • Inspired by the Red Cross, political campaigns have been toying with the idea of raising money via text message. However, federal regulations and issues with carriers will probably prevent such systems from being implemented in the near future. (techPresident)
State and Local
  • Suffolk County, NY has approved two bills aimed at improving the county’s ethics rules. One bill would create a five member ethics commission and the other would consolidate disclosure and ethics requirements into one section of the county code. (Lobby Comply)
  • The Washington, DC City Council is considering ten separate pieces of ethics legislation. There is a hearing today that will attempt to determine which proposals are serious and which are merely political grandstanding. Council Member Muriel Bowser, who chairs the relevant committee, hopes to introduce a comprehensive ethics bill by the end of the year. (DCist)

Relevant committee hearings scheduled for 10/26:

Super Committee
  • Joint Deficit Reduction. Security and Non-Security Discretionary Outlays. 218 HSOB. 10:00 am. Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
House
  • Judiciary. Homeland Security Oversight. 2141 RHOB. 10:00 am. Full Committee hearing.
  • Small Business. SBA Financing Programs Oversight. 2360 RHOB. 1:00 pm. Full Committee hearing.

Relevant bills introduced:

  • None.
Transparency events scheduled for 10/26:

 

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