LEARNINGS: The Center for Open Data Enterprise released the results of its open data roundtables over the past year in a new report. Their research contains recommendations from agencies and the users of their data which will be broadly valuable to governments of other nations and states.

BENE: We were thrilled to hear Congressmen Hultgren, Moulton, Farentold, Hurd and Meadows share such clear, unequivocal support for open data and the OPEN Government Data Act. You can hear more from them in a series of videos on our blog. [READ MORE]

TRADE TRANSPARENCY: The U.S. Trade Representative didn’t include the recommendations that we joined with our open government allies in suggesting for its 2016 open government plan. We hope Congress will take up and pass H.R. 6141, the Promoting Transparency in Trade Act, to enact much-needed reforms. [EFF]

IT’S ON:TransparencyCamp is happening from October 14-15 in Cleveland. Please tune in to #TCamp16 for updates on Twitter, register and submit a session idea! [READ MORE]

CAMPAIGN 2016

• Tens of millions of people watched the first presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. While open government didn’t come up directly, Trump was asked about his tax returns. Good news. It would be even better if he disclosed them: The public doesn’t know whether Trump pays any federal income taxes or not. [Sunlight]

NATIONAL

• The White House released a fact sheet documenting their work on open data over the past eight years as part of its first Open Data Summit. Sunlight was honored to be part of the event. You can watch archived video at Livestream.com. We’ll share slides when they’re all online.
• While we agree with and hail the genuine progress that’s been made, the Obama administration’s legacy on open data and open government is much more complicated than that list suggests.
• On that count, the Departments of Treasury, Interior, HUD, DHS and Veterans Affairs have still not complied with President Obama’s executive order to release a new open government plan every two years. We’ve called on OMB to hold them accountable. [Sunlight]

STATE AND LOCAL

• Cities like Scottsdale, Ariz. are connecting open data policy to a broader framework that normalizes the simple but potent expectation: public data is a public asset. Sunlight’s Alyssa Doom digs into why using complementary policies to open up city data is crucial. [READ MORE]
• Transparency isn’t enough, but it’s the basis for a conversation when a community has lost trust. [ACLU]
• New York City Council has an impressive website in alpha. [NYC]

INTERNATIONAL

• Today is the International Day for Universal Access to Information. [UNESCO]
• As Zarah Rahman rightfully pointed out on the occasion, protecting the right to know is critical – and freedom of information should be tied to open data. [Engine Room]

EVENTS

• Computation and Journalism Symposium at Stanford University on Sept. 30-Oct. 1 in California. [RSVP]
• There will be an Open Data Research Symposium in Madrid on Oct. 5. [RSVP]
• The International Open Data Conference will be in Madrid from Oct. 6–7. [RSVP]
• The National Freedom of Information Coalition and the D.C. Open Government Coalition will convene a Freedom of Information summit October 7-8, 2016 in DC. [RSVP]
• TransparencyCamp will be in Cleveland, Ohio from Oct. 14-15. [RSVP]
• The Code for America Summit is in Oakland, Calif. on Nov. 1–3. [RSVP]
• There will be a workshop on Data and Algorithmic Transparency at Columbia University on Nov. 19. Proposals due Sept. 9. [RSVP]
• The Open Government Partnership’s Global Summit will be Dec. 7-9 in Paris, France.