Transparency advocates in California are drawing inspiration from the Public Online Information Act (POIA) to pursue disclosure improvements in California. POIA was introduced this Congress by Rep. Steve Israel in the House and by Sen. Jon Tester in the Senate.

The new transparency organization govUNLEASHED has chosen the California Public Online Information Act (CPOIA) as its first major initiative. The proposed legislation would require any information that “reveals government agency operational conditions and their capacity to consistently deliver cost-effective public services to U.S. taxpayers” be posted online. This would reduce the burden on state resources that is created by the numerous requests submitted under the current system, according to the organization’s website.

On the federal level, POIA would require Executive Branch agencies to publish all publicly available information on the Internet in a timely manner and in user-friendly formats. It would also create an advisory committee to assist in developing government-wide Internet publication policies. You can visit Sunlight’s policy page for more information, including a video introduction, to POIA.