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Tag Archive: opengov2day

2Day in #OpenGov 2/5/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • The Federal Communications Commission is looking to streamline the process inventors go through when testing their products on the airwaves. (Politico)
  • The Office of Management and Budget is proposing consolidating federal guidance on grants and financial assistance payments. The move is aimed at reducing paperwork and fraud. (GovExec)
  • President Obama is not the first person in his line of work to create a lobbying group that seeks to influence national policy. Former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have gone down - or at least tried to travel - similar paths. (Politico)
  • 2014 is on the minds of some of the biggest Republican Party donors, who are funding a group to protect incumbents and find new candidates for the upcoming U.S. Senate races. (New York Times)
  • Changes to the U.S. Senate lobbying database over the weekend appear to have broken outside links to the documents, impacting watchdog groups like OpenSecrets.org. A staffer said the changes were made so documents would be available in HTML instead of PDF. (Public Integrity)
  • Legislators in Missouri are looking to pass a bill that would require more advance notice of public meetings and increase the likelihood of facing penalties for violating the state's open meetings and records law. (News Tribune)
  • Legislative aides in Virginia will receive the same privacy protections under the state's Freedom of Information Act as legislators under a new bill. (Watchdog.org)

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2Day in #OpenGov 2/4/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • Lobbying revenues have declined for the past two years along with the total number of registered lobbyists. These numbers might make it seem like K Street is slowing down, but unregistered lobbyists are keeping the influence world alive. (Roll Call)
  • The administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy called for better data about government purchases at a recent panel discussion. (GovExec)
  • Big donors are sometimes looking to buy their way to a diplomatic post. A new paper looks at how much money it takes to be appointed to certain positions. (New York Times)
  • President Obama's campaign group continued to receive millions of dollars in contributions after the election, according to recent campaign finance disclosures. (Roll Call)
  • NASA has launched a second International Space Apps Challenge encouraging developers to contribute code to the space agency's projects. (O'Reilly Radar)
  • Texas has approved letting people make campaign donations through text messages, making it the third state to approve such an option. (Roll Call)

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2Day in #OpenGov 2/1/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • President Obama's decision to turn his campaign into a nonprofit that will accept unlimited corporate cash has drawn some criticism across the political spectrum. ProPublica looked into some of the other money-policy flip-flops Obama has made in the past few years. (ProPublica)
  • The House Small Business Committee is aiming to make it easier for companies without lawyers or lobbyists to keep track of federal regulations that might impact them. (Roll Call)
  • The Justice Department filed a brief asking the Supreme Court not to allow direct corporate campaign contributions. (Thomson Reuters)
  • States and municipalities are increasingly creating positions for chief innovation officers, who are tasked with a wide variety of efforts related to better uses of technology. (GovTech)
  • Government use of open source software as an alternative to proprietary software is increasing, and Government Technology explored some of the benefits and challenges of that move. (GovTech)
  • Liberal and conservative groups are expressing concerns about the possible effects of proposed ethics reforms in Georgia that would label citizen volunteers as lobbyists, among other things. (Public Integrity)
  • A bill has been introduced in Rhode Island that would prohibit lobbyists from making any political contributions to a member of the General Assembly during legislative session. (Lobby Comply Blog)
  • A recent poll in Europe found a majority of people surveyed are concerned about the role of lobbyists and want increased transparency in the European Union. (Access Info)
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2Day in #OpenGov 1/31/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • The Office of Congressional Ethics released its 2012 end-of-year report showing it forwarded 13 matters to the House Ethics Committee for review of 32 matters it opened. (Roll Call)
  • Two cases before the House Ethics Committee are being held until the panel has its first organizational meeting and can officially begin taking action. (Roll Call)
  • The Government Accountability Office issued a report calling for better interagency contracting practices in the federal government. (GovExec)
  • The American League of Lobbyists has ended its contract with its lobbying company, which had lobbied on issues such as campaign finance laws and regulations. (Public Integrity)
  • The FEC increased contribution limits on individuals for the 2014 election cycle. Individuals will be able to contribute up to $5,200 for a candidate and $32,400 for a national party committee. (Roll Call)
  • Democratic members of Congress praised the House Majority PAC in a new video, saying the PAC helped them "fight back" against Republican PACs. (Public Integrity)
  • Chris Vein, former deputy CTO of the White House, is settling into his new role as chief innovation officer for Global Information and Communications Technology Development at the World Bank. (GovTech)
  • Carl Hoecker, who was inspector general for the U.S. Capitol Police, has been appointed as the Securities and Exchange Commission's inspector general. (ExecutiveGov)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/30/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • While Uruguay became a regional leader with their 2008 FOI law citizens were not taking advantage of the new rights. www.quesabes.org makes it easier for citizens to make FOI requests. (Tech President)
  • New York Mayor, and billionaire, Michael Bloomberg has beefed up his presence in Washington over the past two years, increasingly engaging on issues from guns to infrastructure. He has used a combination of New York's lobbying office, his own voice, and outside lobbying groups hired by organizations that he has helped create. (Politico)
  • Rep. Ed Markey, who is running to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat left vacant by John Kerry's appointment to lead the State department, is taking a page from the playbook of fellow Bay State politician, and potential rival, Scott brown by pledging to try and keep outside money out of the race. (Politico)
  • Chicago is expanding their 311 system in an attempt to reach wider audiences. As a component of the cities Open311 system users can now access features via text message. (Government Technology)
  • The US Government requested more user information from Twitter in 2012 than in 2011, the first year the company tracked such requests. Twitter claims it requires a search warrant before granting access. (The Hill)
  • Opinion: Imposing a tax on moves through the revolving door might dissuade the practice. (USA Today)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/29/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • Data.gov, with help from a team of Presidential Innovation Fellows, is getting a citizen friendly redesign that will highlight how open data resources are already being used in the private sector. The new approach can be seen at alpa.data.gov (Fed Scoop)
  • Samsung is revving up its lobbying operation to go along with its move to the front in the smartphone wars. The South Korean company spent around $800,000 on lobbying last year, more than in any previous year. (Politico)
  • While speculation continues swirl about  Hillary Clinton's plans for the 2016 presidential race, multiple PACs have sprung up to support her when, and if, she decides to run. (Public Integrity)
  • Despite losing her lucrative gig at Fox News, Sarah Palin still has an avenue to push her political agenda. Her super PAC has over $1 million in the bank. Most powerful PACs keep smaller amounts of cash on hand unless preparing for a campaign push. (Public Integrity)
  • The FDA recently turned to table technology to improve its data collection. The new system helps streamline farm safety inspections, allowing for instant reporting of issues. (Government Technology)
  • After a local open government group filed a FOIA suit the Washington, DC Council changed its rules to ensure that council members and staff cannot avoid the FOIA by doing business on their personal emails. (NFOIC)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/28/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • Libya is backing off earlier pledges to deliver greater transparency and will not reveal details of its oil sales this year. New Libyan leadership had initially promised more transparency after widespread corruption in the pre-revolutionary government. (Trust Law)
  • Many of K Street's biggest firms saw revenues fall in 2012, but some smaller shops are bucking the trend and snagging new clients. (The Hill)
  • Dark money groups have turned their attentions, and wallets, towards defeating Chuck Hagel, President Obama's nominee to lead the defense department. (New York Times)
  • Many senior aides on Capitol Hill that work on energy and environmental issues have departed their positions in recent months, citing the partisan gridlock. (National Journal)
  • Google's flu data has captivated many this season, but it is only one of a variety of systems tracking flue trends. (National Journal)
  • A three year old task to evaluate 361 million pages of classified documents to determine which could be released to the public has been completed, according the the National Archives and Records Administration. 90 million historical pages have been released or reclassified. (Government Executive)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/25/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • Raymond Baker, founder and director of the advocacy group Global Financial Integrity, argues for financial transparency by explaining how illicit capital flows destabilize economies, threaten security, and hinder human rights. (Trust Law)
  • Makers of popular energy drinks Red Bull and Monster are turning to K street for a jolt of influence on Capitol Hill as regulators look at the possible health risks associated with their products. Both brands signed on with powerful lobbying firms for the first time near the end of 2012, spending over $100,000 in the year's waning months. (The Hill)
  • While an informal ban on earmarks has ruled congress with a frugal fist over the past few years, a bipartisan team of Senators wants to make it official policy. Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) introduced a measure to permanently ban the practice. A similar bill failed to pass during the 112th Congress. (Roll Call)
  • Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is playing host to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at a fundraiser at his California home. The two have had a relationship since Zuckerberg donated $100 million to Newark, NJ public schools in 2010. (National Journal)
  • Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are pushing President Obama to nominate an Inspector General for the State Department as the Senate considers John Kerry as the agency's next head. State has been without a permanent IG since 2007. (Government Executive)
  • A new report ranks the states on how well they provide online access to government spending data. Today, almost every state has a transparency website with state spending information, but some are better than others. (US PIRG)
  • The House Ethics Committee announced stricter disclosure requirements on Wednesday. Members and senior staffers will now have to disclose underlying assets in certain investment funds and accounts. (Roll Call)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/24/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • Nonprofit Common Crawl is following in Google's footsteps by indexing large amounts of the internet, over five billion pages so far. But, there is one important difference; they're making their database available for free. (Technology Review)
  • NextBus, a popular app that provides real-time transit information for Washington, DC, went down recently after the company behind it failed to update their API to a standard format promoted by the regional transit authority. (Slate)
  • Google dropped nearly $17 million on lobbying in 2012 as it fought anti-trust investigations and argued for internet freedom. The total is nearly double what the tech giant spent in 2011. (The Hill)
  • Former Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) is making nearly $1 million in his new career. As chief executive of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, he doesn't plan to lobby the government. He is technically allowed to lobby the administration now, but has to wait two years before making a decision about lobbying Congress. (The Hill)
  • New York City is launching a new searchable, machine-readable, programmatically accessible database of city financial data. Checkbook NYC 2.0 is an upgraded version of an existing tool.  (Tech President)
  • New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has invested significant resources from his personal fortune to advocate for new gun control measures. He has spread his largess between Mayors Against Illegal Guns and his very own super PAC, Independence USA PAC. (NPR)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/23/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • 75% of the $306 million spent on state political campaigns in Florida last year went to political committees, which fewer disclosure requirements, instead of candidates. (The Miami Herald)
  • In her State of the State address on January 16, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley cited the Palmetto state's low grades in State Integrity Investigation while calling for major reforms. (Global Integrity)
  • Hadithi, a new platform for hosting open access academic content is scheduled to launch on January 24th. The platform is Kenya, but will aggregate articles from research institutions worldwide. (Global Voices)
  • The White House is partnering with Random Hacks of Kindness, Code for America, Innovation Endeavors, and several Federal agencies to host a National Day of Civic Hacking. The day of hacking will take place on June 1-2 and there are currently events planned for 27 cities. (Tech President)
  • Former Senator Ben Nelson became the latest recently retired lawmaker to settle into a new office on K Street with the announcement that he will join public affair firm Agenda as a senior adviser. (Politico)
  • The US Chamber of Commerce spent more than $100 million on lobbying in 2012, allowing the group to maintain its throne as the highest spending interest group in Washington. (Roll Call)

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