Sometimes simple ideas done right can have an incredible impact. At the Sunlight Foundation, we believe that TurboVote is one... View Article
Continue reading20+ Orgs Ask For Better Access to the “Constitution Annotated”
Today, on the birthday of the Constitution, more than 20 organizations and individuals called for better public access to the... View Article
Continue readingTools for Transparency: 5 Buzz Tracking Tools
Keeping tabs on the transparency movement can seem like an arduous task, but thankfully there are a number of tools... View Article
Continue reading‘Baby Steps’ for Federal E-Rulemaking Process
Federal rules affect many aspects of American life, ranging from whether truck drivers can send text messages to standards for the quality of drinking water.
But most of the more than 8,000 rules that federal government agencies establish each year take effect largely unnoticed by consumers, even though agencies are required to seek public comment. The feedback – which is usually dominated by lobbyists and industry-backed groups – is then typically analyzed by an agency before it finalizes a regulation.
Open government advocates agree that the rulemaking process is far more open than years ago, when individuals had to physically visit ...
The Most Open Congress Ever?
Today, Sunlight is announcing a package of House Rules reforms for the upcoming 112th Congress that can help create the... View Article
Continue readingNo Country for Self-Funders, Part II
Continuing to support the proposition that the political system is not about to be overrun by self-funding candidates is this... View Article
Continue readingSpeechNow now speaking
The nonprofit group Speechnow.org has finally established itself as an independent expenture-only committee with the Federal Elections Commission. The group waited for two months after the FEC issued advisory opinions clearly stating that groups could organize to make independent expenditures and receive unlimited contributions -- a result Speechnow's win in a federal court case againt the FEC.
David Keating, spokesman for Speechnow.org, says the organization was simply waiting until it was ready to start receiving contributions and spending money, and that didn't happen until recently.
Continue readingRangel wins primary
Embattled Rep. Charlie Rangel won his crowded primary last night despite being under investigation on multiple ethics charges. What does... View Article
Continue readingSenate looks to end secret holds in defense authorization bill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised a vote on a bill to end the practice of secret holds in the... View Article
Continue readingSunlight Hackathon at RubyConf
I'm happy to announce that Sunlight will be hosting an open government hackathon at RubyConf. The three day event will be held in New Orleans from November 11 to 13. This is the big show in the Ruby world, where the Ruby core team from Japan will make the trip across the Pacific. While the event initially sold in a matter of days when registration first opened, a second batch of tickets will be made available today. So head on over to the RubyConf registration page right now to get your seat.
The RubyConf organizers, Ruby Central Inc., have been gracious enough to provide us with a dedicated room at the conference venue. Previously, Sunlight has hosted successful hackathons at PyCon around the Open States Project. With the hackathon at RubyConf, we plan to have a diverse selection of projects for developers to work on. We'll have projects at the federal level and state level, like writing data importers for the National Data Catalog. In the past year within our community, there's been tremendous energy at the local level. We encourage those working on city-centric efforts to bring "shovel-ready" projects to the hackathon, and we'll support you throughout RubyConf. Just get in touch with me and we'll get your project on the board. We're also working with key stakeholders in New Orleans, and hope to have some projects ready that can directly help the city in its recovery efforts.
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