We are all very shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic death of our friend and colleague, Aaron Swartz,... View Article
Continue readingImmigration lobby begins to flex muscle
This week, while much of Washington's attention is focused on the debates over gun control and Chuck Hagel's nomination as defense secretary, the pieces are beginning to move into place for another legislative battle that could make the other two look like a lobbying Little League (sorry, NRA).
What has all the earmarks of a well-orchestrated roll-out of the administration's immigration reform package began Sunday with a front page New York Times story. This is being followed up by an immigration event every day this week organized by proponents of more liberalized immigration laws:
- Monday: Los Angeles ...
2Day in #OpenGov 1/14/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- The Office of Congressional Ethics was reauthorized in the House rules package for the 113th congress. Watchdog groups had feared that the, sometimes controversial, agency might be hamstrung. (National Journal $)
- Rhode Island is launching a new government information portal that will provide access to government financial data including contracts, audits, and financial documents. The portal will also allow users to file public records requests. (Public Integrity)
- Last week, President Obama signed the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act, which establishes the Do Not Pay Initiative. The law is aimed at minimizing improper payments.(Federal Computer Week)
- Denmark is launching a database to make corporate tax records available to the public. The database will include figures for the past year of corporate taxation, including information on which companies did not pay taxes.(Tech President)
- New York Governor is planning to implement a statewide open data portal, making good on a campaign promise to focus on transparency. The portal will post budget data in machine readable and graphical formats. (Tech President)
- The National Institutes of Health hired a chief data officer to lead a strategic initiative aimed at making the most out of biomedical research data. (Federal Computer Week)
- Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced several measures dealing with campaign finance reform in the first week of the 113th Congress. The bills include 3 proposed constitutional amendments and an effort to require broadcasters to provide free air time for political ads. (Lobby Comply)
Change (and a lot more) you won’t believe: Obama for America’s encore
President Barack Obama has made history in a lot of ways and now he's got another bullet point to add to the list: Since the Federal Election Commission was established in the late 1970s and started keeping records of such things, he's the first second-term president to continue fundraising after the last ballot of his political career has been counted.
Unless Obama wants to imitate John Quincy Adams and return to Congress after leaving the White House -- or run for local school board, as former President Bill Clinton once jokingly suggested he might do -- it seems pretty safe ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/11/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Open Government leaders are meeting in Chile this week to discuss Latin American plans and adding Argentina to the Open Government Partnership. The OGP also released a variety of statistics on its first 16 months. (GovFresh)
- The Chamber of Commerce, one of the countries most powerful lobbying forces, is gearing up to fight against recent policy changes through the legal arena as well, by hiring more lawyers and preparing to attach the Affordable Care Act and Dodd-Frank financial regulation law with lawsuits. (National Journal)
- Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum is publicly opposing Chuck Hagel, his former colleague in the Senate. Santorum announced that he is planning to run ads against Hagel's nomination to serve as Secretary of Defense. (Politico $)
- Former Representative Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly launched a super PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions, that hopes for raise $20 million by the 2014 elections to provide a counterweight to the NRA. (Politico)
- A growing number of Mexican Twitter users are using the service to provide real time coverage of violent crime that has emerged as an alternative to traditional news media outlets that sometimes fail to adequately cover the country's devastating drug war. (Tech President)
- Several Democratic lawmakers have released emails that indicate high ranking Wal-Mart officials were aware in 2005 that the retailer was paying bribes in Mexico. Representatives Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) are investigating Wal-Mart's Mexico division for bribery. (Washington Times)
Opening Government: Oakland’s First CityCamp
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the guest blogger and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of the Sunlight Foundation or any employee thereof. Sunlight Foundation is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information within the guest blog.
Spike is the Director of Research & Technology with Urban Strategies Council, an Oakland based social justice nonprofit and speaks nationally on data driven decision making and open data. He is the co-founder and captain of OpenOakland, a Code for America Brigade. An Aussie native, he became a dual US citizen last year and voted in his first ever American election.
I recently co-founded an organization called OpenOakland with former Code for America fellow Eddie Tejeda. One of our passions was that we both believe that government can and should be much more than a vending machine. Those of us in OpenOakland (all 20+ volunteers) dig the idea of government as a platform: a platform that supports safe communities, job growth, excellent schools, strategic business development and innovation. When our government operates more collaboratively and genuinely engages with our communities (as opposed to acting as a barrier), it facilitates so much more that can benefit our communities. To many, this is a new concept, but we believe that it matters how we perceive our governments. It's no secret that current local governments have a ton of changing to do, but it's unlikely that these changes will come about swiftly without all of us being involved and engaged and supporting our government staff and leaders to make these changes.
Access to Legislation Gets Better, Promise of More to Come
Earlier today, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor and the Government Printing Office announced an improvement in how legislation is made publicly available. Starting in the 113th Congress, GPO will make all bills available for bulk download in XML format. While this doesn't change much from a technological perspective, it does mark a significant change from a policy perspective.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/10/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP: Major public procurement reforms were recently passed in the Czech Republic after an anonymous whistleblower worked with Transparency... View Article
Continue readingOscars of influence: Sunlight’s nominees
After this morning's announcement of nominees for this year's Academy Awards, there will be a month of balloting before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tells us which 2012 films had the biggest impact on Hollywood. But the film industry's impact on Washington is already evident.
The envelopes, please.
The nomination for best tax break goes to...
Production companies behind the Academy Award frontrunners (or their parent companies) spent large sums to donate to politicians or lobby in 2012, and, as Sunlight reported last week, they were rewarded for their efforts in the 'fiscal cliff ...
Continue readingLearn How to Use the Capitol Words API on Codecademy
We’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with Codecademy to make our Capitol Words API easier to learn and use.... View Article
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