As Sunlight has covered before, California is one of the many states that is in dire need of transparency. A... View Article
Continue readingCity of Bell and the Case for Grassroots Transparency
I’m proud to present this independent research project by our summer intern Mike Liu. Mike looked at his home state... View Article
Continue readingLack of disclosure protects bad nursing home firms
The pattern of understaffing at Skilled Healthcare Group's 22 California nursing homes could have raised red flags for patients and their families, but ownership information is currently difficult to obtain. The company has been ordered to pay $670 million for violating California state staffing minimums. A portion of the fee, the result of a class action lawsuit, is intended to refund patients for the quality of care they received.
Nursing Home Compare, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) site that allows the public to evaluate nursing home performance, does not yet identify the names of nursing home owners ...
Citizens United: New York, California and Washington
The Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United v. FEC case has rendered 24 states' election laws unconstitutional. The 5-4 ruling in favor of Citizens United reversed a provision of the McCain-Feingold act that prohibited any electioneering communication—defined as advertising via broadcast, cable or satellite that is paid for by corporations or labor unions. Many states have acted fast to counter corporations’ ability to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections by passing laws that force disclosure of all independent expenditures in near real time. The Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group has decided to report what each of ...
Continue readingLocal Sunlight
This week I have highlights from California, Hawaii, Delaware, Idaho, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico.
Continue readingSocialGovernment.com and the States
Earlier this week, Alexander Muir at SocialGovernment.com wrote an interesting post about social media in the states; how they are... View Article
Continue readingLocal Sunlight
Every week I climb into the depths of the local political blogosphere to find the Sunlight. I use this series... View Article
Continue readingState of the City
Gavin Newsom the Mayor of San Francisco has started putting his State of the City addresses on You Tube. You... View Article
Continue readingCA Suit Seeks Legislative Info
The California First Amendment Coalition and MAPLight.org (a Sunlight grantee) filed suit in California courts to force the Legislative Counsel... View Article
Continue readingCitizens Angry at Insurer-Lawmaker Coziness in Wake of Fires:
Survivors of the devastating California forest fires of 2003 are looking to impose new rules to govern insurance companies after a series of bad experiences attempting to claim their losses in the fires. These citizens have run up against a powerful force that is derailing their efforts: the cozy relationship between the insurance industry and California lawmakers. According to the Los Angeles Times, “the most far-reaching efforts were derailed by a panel of state lawmakers that is closely aligned with the insurance industry”. Since 2003 the insurance industry has spent $25 million on “lobbyists, campaign contributions and perks for lawmakers” just in California.
Continue reading
59063
