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May 11, 2010 by
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Governor Brad Henry , which would have required the Department of Education to finalize its reporting codes and procedures by May 1st, and prohibited the department from changing the codes more than once a year. The bill had previously been unanimously approved by both chambers, who said it would have brought greater transparency for school spending in Oklahoma.
“I can’t believe that Governor Henry actually claims that House Bill 2575 reduces the ability to track funds. In fact, the bill would actually reduce the ability to hide funds while also relieving school districts of a bureaucratic burden. Working with one set of accounting codes for an entire year does not seem to harm other states. We understand that Kansas has not changed its education accounting codes in several years while has changed them multiple times in the same year, making it difficult for districts that have to report the spending. The fact that HB 2575 passed unanimously in both chambers proves that Governor Henry is not responsive to the needs of Oklahomans,” said Brian Downs, Executive Director of .
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May 7, 2010 by
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You know what I love? . I think there is no downside to just publishing government information right on the web. It’s convenient, fast, and cuts down on the whole FOIA hassle.
Which is why it is so exciting that Sen. Jon Tester-D introduced a bill that would require government agencies to publish all their .
But why stop at the three federal branches? America would see just as much benefits from state agency participation, something we’ve already seen in a few states like, .
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May 6, 2010 by
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The is a little irked about . They way they describe it, the practice boils down to governments “spending tax dollars to persuade the state Legislature to give them…more tax dollars.” And NTU asks two important questions:
*Couldn’t that money be used more wisely?
*Why do towns even need these lobbyists?
Two questions governments have a duty to answer to taxpayers. NTU also noted a common : “Municipalities should be a priority for their state legislators, who are elected to represent those very towns.”
The main problem for NTU, however, isn’t necessarily government lobbying, but rather the . Laws on public lobbying are not as demanding as those on private lobbying. It therefore becomes easy to obscure the already-convuluted chain that taxpayer dollars go through in order to end up as payment to lobbying firms. The solution is better legislation. State in (D-) has introduced a bill in the that would require towns to report any lobbyists they hire, the purpose, and how much the firm was paid.
The senator, like NTU, is also confused by the practice and . “Why do they need a middle man? Municipalities are our most important clients. Towns don’t need a lobbyist to come to my office. I can’t remember a single time when I thought they were getting their money’s worth [by hiring lobbyists].”
At Sunshine Review, we’ve been working to find and compile information about taxpayer-funded lobbying and . Please in adding to public understanding about what it is that your government does.
For more New Jersey resources, see the links below. And be sure to join us at #FOIAchat on tomorrow from 2-3 pm EST, where we’ll be live chatting about FOIA in the news.
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May 5, 2010 by
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Okay, I’m annoyed. According to , Senate President Glenn F. McConnell-R, recently called government transparency a “fad.”
Uh, no. Transparency is now part of the political landscape, bud. Furthermore, news that on-record voting is propecia online being presented is baffling. This is a best practice that should have been implemented ages ago. I’m willing to even go past FitsNews’ desire for an electronic voting record. I want an electronic voting record reported in real-time with a public API so we can manipulate that data in oh-so-many ways.
Hear that McConnell? Transparency is just going to get bigger and better. It’s here, it’s amazing, get used to it!
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May 4, 2010 by
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Since changes to the January 1 of this year, several groups have been working to rollback these changes. And it looks like they’ve won their first victory.
Changes to the old include fines for failing to fulfill FOIA, a stricter 5 day deadline for responding to a request, and a cap on the amount public bodies are allowed to charge for copies. These changes came as a result of problems with the FOIA that allowed for too many exemptions and for too few penalties for governments that failed to live up to their open government duty.
The , however, had opponents from the beginning. For example, two , the and the , opposed the changes citing increased burdens on local governments, among other things. Unions were also vocal about their .
The new FOIA had opponents from within the legislature, as well. Several before a strong bill could get to Governor Pat Quinn’s desk.
For awhile after the passage of the new bill, the forces fighting the changes to FOIA continued their fight. And it seems that they have succeeded, at least in small part. Senate members voted last week 45-9 to approve House Bill 5154, which under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
Unions representing public employees support the bill, saying allowing requests for evaluations would lead to employees FOIAing one another’s evaluations, and would make public employees feel unvalued. Senator , D-Westchester who sponsored the bill, echoed those sentiments saying in order to protect the privacy of public employees and to allow them to trust their public officials. She also said some individuals may misuse FOIA in an attempt to incriminate a public employee.
Another State Senator, however, differently. , R-Palatine, voted against the bill citing the power it takes away from citizens, and sees the bill as a step backwards. “At the end of the day, people want to feel like if they want to, go look and find out where their tax dollars are being spent,” Murphy said. “They have the right to do it and they should have the opportunity to do it. This whittled that away.”
The availability of routine involving chronically troublesome employees. The State-Journal Register notes one example of a sheriff deput disciplined 42 times in his 13 years with the sheriff’s office.
These are not the only changes to FOIA law on the table. Pending legislation aimed at the new FOIA include a bill to allow public bodies to charge higher fees by eliminating the new limit of 15 cents a page and a bill that would eliminate the requirement that courts award attorney’s fees to citizens who prevail in court over illegally-withheld information. Two other bills would allow public bodies to deny records if they pertain to any issue “under investigation,” even if they are not the investigating agency.
As far as higher level officials in Illinois, Attorney General . However, some speculate . The long-run implications are yet to be seen, and it is unclear how the Illinois FOIA will look after all of this is settled.
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May 3, 2010 by
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For real estate the chant is “location, location, location.” I think for politics we can change this bit of wisdom to “local, local, local.” There are a lot of organizations out there that are chasing the Federal Government around demanding transparency, but what we forget is that at some point it’s all local.
Which is why I’m thrilled, but was not necessarily surprised, that a small town in the southern province of Sichuan, China, was the first to take the step towards a “” by posting their budget online. True, it showed 65 percent of the budget went to entertaining government officials, but information is key to any reform.
Then, this past March, Guangdong, the province closest to Hong Kong and the “manufacturing heartland of China” also posted its budget online. This is the first step towards transparency by a major providence in China in 60 years!
Are we about to witness a transparency revolution in China? I sure hope so.