In a legislative meeting today, DC council members unanimously approved a bill that moves campaign finance in the District toward greater transparency. The legislation requires electronic filing of campaign finance information and the publication of that information online within 24 hours — language that Sunlight’s local team recommended in the bill’s drafting process.

Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, who moved the bill through Council, thanked Sunlight for our role in this win for transparency:

Today DC Council unanimously approved a major campaign finance reform bill closing LLC loophole, requiring greater disclosure & reporting

— Kenyan R. McDuffie (@CM_McDuffie) December 3, 2013

Thanks also to the @SunFoundation for their input on transparency reforms that are cornerstone of this DC campaign finance reform

— Kenyan R. McDuffie (@CM_McDuffie) December 3, 2013

We’ve emphasized the importance of electronic filing in our look at local campaign finance data and best practices for its disclosure, and we are glad to see DC taking action on this important issue. The bill also draws on Sunlight’s guidance in defining open formats for sharing campaign finance data and requiring that it can be available as a bulk download. These reforms mean that it will be easier for the public to access, analyze, and reuse information about money in DC politics, empowering functions like more easily adding the data to Sunlight’s Influence Explorer tool.

We hope to see this bill signed into law and successfully implemented, showing how technology and political willpower can be harnessed to advance government transparency on the local level.