Sunlight Foundation

Happy Labor Day Weekend! Here is Friday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Government

• An "IT cartel" of major federal contractors is limiting government efficiency, according to former federal CIO Vivek Kundra. (Federal Computer Week)
• The Government Business Council has compiled a briefing outlining how new federal CIO Steven VanRoekel is expected to implement Kundra's technology agenda with less financial flexibility. (Next Gov)
• OMB Watch has submitted recommendations for the Obama Administration's Open Government Partnership (OGP) national plan. (OMB Watch)

• Interest groups are questioning the status of the Obama Administration's draft executive order that would require federal contractors to disclose political contributions. (Politico)

• Agency apps should be updated regularly and should not contain so much content that they are overwhelming to users, according to government app experts. (Next Gov)
• Virginia has launched a new online interactive traffic crash database to provide the public with better information regarding highway safety in the state. (Gov Tech)

• Chicago's new lobbyist disclosure database, available through the City of Chicago Data Portal, ties information together in a way that actually shows the connections between" client, lobbyist, and city hall." (Lobby Comply Blog)
• Wyoming lawmakers are drafting legislation seeking to create an exemption from the state's public records law for emails sent to members of city councils, school boards, and other elected bodies. (trib.com)
• California Watch, founded by the Center for Investigative Reporting, has created a database allowing users to search who is lobbying any bill before the state Legislature. (California Watch)

September, already! Here is Thursday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Super Committee

• Democratic members of the Super Committee had a conference call yesterday to discuss strategy and administrative matters. (National Journal)(Government Executive)

• The White House has created a new webpage called "We the People" that allows people to create and sign petitions advocating for government action. (Federal News Radio)
• Despite a massive AT&T lobbying campaign, the Department of Justice is going to court to stop the proposed merger with T-Mobile. (Politico)

• A proposal before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted by ten law professors seeks to require public corporations to list political contributions in annual shareholder statements. (Washington Post)

• Former federal CIO Vivek Kundra envisions creating a global "Cloud First" policy, which would force countries to work together to determine ways to share cloud data. (Federal Times)
• The Veterans Affairs Department has launched an online open-source community in an attempt to update its Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) through crowdsourcing. (Federal Computer Week)
• The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) held their First International Workshop on Climate Informatics last week to discuss new tools, methods, and applications for climate data. (O'Reilly Radar)
• Electronic health records help doctors provide better care for their patients, according to a new study. (National Journal)
• O'Reilly Radar has published "Big Data Now," a free collection of Radar data coverage during the last year. (O'Reilly Radar)

• Wisconsin is not following state contract transparency laws, according to a new audit. (Watchdog.org)

• An Indian government agency launched a wiki defining obscure economic terms to "enrich and enhance citizen friendly policy formulation through dialogue and collaborative action." (techPresident)

Can you believe it's already the last day of August?? Summer has gone by far too quickly, if you ask me. The daily roundup carries on, however, with Wednesday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Super Committee

• Mark Prater, chief tax counsel for Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee, has been chosen to serve as staff director of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. (New York Times)(Roll Call $)
• Republican committee members are meeting to discuss strategy prior to the full committee's first official meetings, which will take place after Labor Day. (Politico)

• The Social Security Administration has made inroads in implementing the iAppeals application, and an increasing number of disability benefits decision appeals are being filed electronically. (Federal Computer Week)
• Only 23 percent of federal websites have implemented mandatory security measures to prevent hackers from redirecting visitors to fraudulent websites, a full year and a half after a White House deadline to do so. (Next Gov)
• POGO submitted a public comment to the GSA advocating for a comprehensive evaluation of a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision requiring mandatory contractor disclosure. (POGO)
• Performance.gov is not a useful resource in its current format, and falls short of its goal of meaningfully displaying agencies' quarterly performance data. (Fierce Government)
• The Veterans Affairs Department’s two-year-old IT project oversight system is still in need of work, according to a new IG audit. (Federal Computer Week)
• President Obama wrote a letter to House Speaker Boehner defending his regulatory agenda despite its costs. (Washington Post)
• A recommendation suggesting that federal agencies translate online background information about proposed new regulations into multiple languages other than English could cause partisan disagreement and garner few results, according to the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS). (Next Gov)

• Three Republican leadership PACs have joined together to create a new joint fundraising committee called the Young Guns Majority Victory Fund. (Politico)
• Several House freshmen who claimed goals of changing the way Washington works are now promoting legislation that could benefit some of their biggest campaign donors, according to USA Today.

• Motion control, balloon radio, augmented reality, intelligent streetlights, and unmanned aerial vehicles are five emerging technologies that are headed toward the government market. (Gov Tech)
• O'Reilly's director of market research Roger Magoulas discusses the potential role data science and big data could play in the financial world in expanding data types, directing investment strategies, and creating new businesses. (O'Reilly Radar)

• Georgia is considering changes to its sunshine laws, including a bill that would increase fines and civil penalties if government agencies violate requirements of public access to records and meetings. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Missouri's Ethics Commission is underfunded and understaffed, according to a report by the state auditor. (Lobby Comply Blog)
• A New Jersey city council has adopted a new pay-to-play ordinance prohibiting "any business entity who submits a proposal for, enters into negotiations for, or agrees to any contract or agreement with the borough, from knowingly making any contribution to local candidates, candidate committee or joint candidates committees, PACs, or to holders of public office having ultimate responsibility for the award of a contract or agreement." (Lobby Comply Blog)
• Governor Pat Quinn signed into law HB 1716, which will restrict FOIA requests in Illinois. (Sunlight Foundation Blog)