2Day in #OpenGov 11/22/2011

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Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post.

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:

Lobbying

  • Religious advocacy groups have expanded rapidly over the past 40 years, according to a new report by the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life. These groups spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year lobbying for issues like school vouchers, immigration, and abortion. (Washington Post)
  • South Korean auto makers accelerated their lobbying activity over the past few years. Meanwhile, American, German, and Japanese companies have tapped the breaks on their government affairs spending. (Politico)
  • The failure of the Super Committee might provide a boost in business to Washington’s lobbyists. The automatic cuts triggered by the committee’s failure won’t start until 2013, giving lobbyists plenty of time to fight them. Meanwhile, a number of programs that may have been included in a Super Committee plan will have to be dealt with in the coming months. (The Hill)
Access to Information
  • The Office of Government Information Services submitted recommendations for improving how agencies handle government wide FOIA requests more than nine months ago. They are still awaiting approval by the OMB. (Nextgov)
  • A new site, NewsTransparency , claims it aims to provide wikipedia-style information about journalists. Critics claim it is just a “conservative way of criticizing the so-called liberal media.” (Politico)

Relevant committee hearings scheduled for 11/22:

  • None.

Relevant bills introduced:

  • None.
Transparency events scheduled for 11/22:
  • None.

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