Keep reading for the year’s last look at #OpenGov news, events and analysis including potential IT procurement changes, accurate bill prediction, and open data in Sacramento.

A brief programming note: This will be the last Today in #OpenGov in 2013. I’d like to thank my colleagues Alisha Green, Greg Brown, and Rebecca Williams for helping me cover state, local, and international news and making me more efficient! Happy holidays. See you in 2014!

National News

• Some members of Congress are trying to move legislation that aims to reform federal IT and procurement rules. The Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act would, among other things, strengthen the role of the agency CIO and make changes to the IT procurement process. (Fed Scoop)
• Eric Cantor’s Leadership PAC raised around $200,000 last quarter with almost half of its donations coming from 17 executives at Goldman Sachs.  (Roll Call)
• Verizon will become the first major telecom company to roll out a “transparency report,” detailing the number of requests for user information it gets from the government. A number of technology companies, including Google and Facebook, already release similar reports. (The Hill)

International News

• More than 100 civil society organizations and individuals have signed a letter expressing concern that mass surveillance and persecution of whistleblowers contradict the ideals of “open government.”(Access Info)

State and Local News

• New Orleans has had an effort to “democratize data” since 1997 by making it accessible and giving it a human face. The website has proven especially useful in the wake of hurricane Katrina. (Next City)
• FiscalNote, a relatively new start up, provides legislative tracking services across all 50 states. It also claims to be able to predict the final outcome of a given bill with 93% accuracy. (Government Technology)
• The capital of California is joining the growing push for open data. Sacramento recently launched an open data portal that includes more than 40 data sets, including 311 call information. (Government Technology)

Do you want to track transparency news? You can view our feed on our Netvibes page and follow the progress of relevant bills on our Scout page. You can also get 2Day in #OpenGov sent directly to your preferred news reader!