2Day in #OpenGov 11/21/2011

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Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post.

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

News Roundup:

Government

  • The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is teaming up with the Small Business Administration to streamline and improve the quality of small business contracting data. (Federal Computer Week)
  • 20 major companies that have spent over $1 billion lobbying for a repatriation tax holiday stand to make a 14,000 percent return on their investment if the measure is approved. (National Journal)
  • Congress is teaming up with Facebook developers for the first ever Congressional Facebook Developer Hackathon. The event aims to examine how social media can interact with legislative data and constituent communications. (National Journal)
Access to Information
  • The U.S. government launched a public registry of unclassified information that still requires safeguards. There are more than 100 policies across the executive branch dealing with this type of information. The registry is a first step towards administering it in a more efficient way. (POGO)
  • Aides to Mitt Romney wiped computer servers after he left office as governor of Massachusetts, making it impossible to retrieve email records from his administration. Last week, Romney stated that his aides followed the letter of the law. (National Journal)
Campaign Finance
  • A conservative PAC is fighting a Washington state law that bans PACs from contributing more than $5,000 to a campaign within three weeks of an election. They argue that the law limits their speech. (Courthouse News)
State and Local
  • The Washington, DC Council is set to consider an ethics reform bill. The legislation would create a Board of Ethics and Government Accountability, set new financial disclosure rules, and more heavily regulate transition, inaugural, and constituent service funds. (Washington Post)
  • The Connecticut Office of State Ethics fined the executive director of Connecticut Working Families $10,000 for failing to wear proper identification while lobbying during the 2010 election cycle. (Lobby Comply)

Relevant committee hearings scheduled for 11/21-11/23:

  • None.

Relevant bills introduced:

  • None.
Transparency events scheduled for 11/21-11/23:
  • None.

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