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November 19, 2010 by
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The TSA is a government agency, the . wrote about this issue—”“—highlight the scandalous nature of recent events regarding the administration’s actions.
A legislature in Florida is calling for airports to , instead encouraging them to choose private contractors for security. One powerful tool in holding the TSA accountable is the Freedom of Information Act. Today in #FOIAchat, our weekly Twitter conference on FOIA issues, we talked about private/public companies and requesting information. One can currently , though because of its relationship to the Department of Homeland Security, it is possible many exemptions apply. If more airports do opt out, it will be interesting to see what the transparency implications will be.
Look for the #FOIAchat archive . And let us know your opinion.
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November 18, 2010 by
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The superintendent of in North Carolina stated that the .
The school district’s budget advisory committee, which held its first meeting Wednesday, is a good start in engaging citizens. The committee includes administrators, two principals, two teachers, one student, the head of the Durham Association of Educators, two members of the business community and six general community members.
The school is going to use its website a means of communicating with citizens. For guidance, they should use the , which lays out the minimum amount of information that should be available on a government website.
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November 17, 2010 by
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The Illinois Freedom of Information Act is still on a rocky path.
The has overturned Governor Pat Quinn’s veto on Freedom of Information Act exemptions in the state. Quinn passed an amendatory veto of a bill that effectively exempted the performance evaluations of all public employees; Quinn’s veto would only exempt law enforcement. If the Senate accepts the House’s bill to reverse Quinn’s veto, all employee evaluations will be exempt from disclosure.
Earlier in the year, Quinn actually passed the new Illinois FOIA that had stricter penalties for noncompliance and response times. But , which limited the exemption but also accepted their validity.
Performance evaluations are like the year end reports you and I have to deal with, but more important. Because public employees are paid by tax funds to which all citizens contribute, we all have a right to keep them accountable. Also, the groups of public employees whose reviews are exempt are exactly the employees we have an great interest in as citizens: children spend most of their days with teachers, and interactions with police officers involve a great power disparity. Information can help prevent incompetent officials from staying on the public payroll, like one officer who was .
Hopefully, enough watchdogs will continue to guard the Illinois FOIA so that there are fewer instances of lawmakers chipping away at it.
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November 17, 2010 by
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Alabama school districts earned an overall “D” transparency grade for information available on their websites according to an analysis conducted by Sunshine Review, a pro-transparency group.
Sunshine Review employs a “10 Point Transparency Checklist” to assess state and local government websites on proactive disclosure of government information. The checklist measures content available on government websites against what should be provided. Checklist items include information about budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, background checks, audits, contracts, academic performance, public records, and taxes.
The highest scoring districts in Alabama were Auburn City Schools and the Mobile County Public School system, each earning “B-” transparency grades. However, school districts overwhelmingly failed the transparency test, with 47 of the 132 school districts earning an “F.” Many of the school districts failed to post audits, contracts, and or academic performance.
“Well, I’m not surprised,” said Gary Palmer, President of the Alabama Policy Institute. “We have had a legislature that is not interested in transparency or accountability at any level of government. I think the new legislature is much more reform oriented.”
The President of Sunshine Review Michael Barnhart believes that proactively disclosing audits will have a positive impact on Idaho’s schools performance.
“It is crucial for parents and taxpayers to have access to complete information about how school districts operate,” said Barnhart.
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November 16, 2010 by
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When we advocated for more government transparency, we didn’t mean the government releasing naked pictures citizens who passed through the full body scanners at airports. Yet, that’s exactly what they’ve done. Gizmodo filed a FOIA request and received in return.
Privacy advocates are already arguing that the body scanners are violations of our rights and nothing but “” It’ll be interesting to see what the release of the “unstored” photos means for FOIA as well.
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November 12, 2010 by
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Last year it took the Illinois State Legislature less then 15 days to limit the new and improved state when it added exemptions for performance evaluations of teachers, administrators and superintendents.
Other public employees thought this was a grand idea, which lead to , which would exempt all performance evaluations (even though it was allowed even the under previous version of the law). In July, Gov. Pat Quinn , saying that only emergency personnel would be exempted.
But the bill is back from the dead, and expected to be voted on during next weeks veto session. The Illinois Press Association (IPA) is anticipating :
- Representatives could approve the governor’s amendment and send it to the Senate (IPA thinks it’s unlikely)
- The House could override the veto with a three-fifths majority vote (which they need only more to do) and send the bill to the Senate (IPA believe this is possible)
- Or the House could do nothing, which would kill the bill and leave FOIA intact (IPA preferred)
I’m with the IPA, option number three please.
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November 11, 2010 by
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Sunshine Review has rated more than 5,000 city, county, and school district website using out Ten Point Transparency Checklist. out of these, a mere 40 have scored a 9 or 10.
There’s clearly a need for some sort of legislation to encourage governments to disclose key information to citizens. That’s why Sunshine Review is proud to introduce the .
In the coming weeks, we will talk to more than 7,000 legislators to ask them to review the legislation and to support it.
What is the Sunshine Standard? You can hear it right from our president .
The Sunshine Standard website includes model legislation for public officials to use as a tool, but also to start making a change in their state and local governments. We hope you’re as excited about this as we are, and that you’ll join us in making your local government more transparent.
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November 10, 2010 by
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Elections are over, and as we head towards 2011, I’m wondering which elected officials will be taking a stand to implement transparency.
Literally, I’m wondering, because I can’t find the information anywhere. Here are the few leads I have found:
Obama and Biden continue their trend of showroom transparency. Earlier this week, Biden to discuss stimulus transparency, and the irony did not escape us. Also a new graph showing the Obama administration has not followed through with its promise to “,” posting less then half of them online.
I did manage to dig up a list of and transparency pledges from the United States House & Senate, though I suspect they are incomplete.
But what about at the state and local level? Do you know of any officials who campaigned on transparency and plan to implement it in the new year? We’ll be discussing this and other 2011 predictions for transparency this week during and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
If you do know of any newly elected officials and their transparency promises please leave their names in the comments. Thanks!
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November 9, 2010 by
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Unlike our interactions with non-public institutions, we can’t just take our money elsewhere when it comes to government, and we can’t just not care–it’s our duty to keep our elected bodies accountable.
This is why lobbying disclosure requirements for public bodies are so important. It is one thing to want to know what private interests are influencing legislation in-state and at Congress. It is quite another to know what specific legislation and programs your money is funding. The latter instance proves a more pressing need for transparency.
Many, if not most, governments attempt to influence legislation by lobbying. But the lobbying registration philosophy in some states is odd. According to the , 44 out of the 50 states have . The reasoning? Lobbying is a “natural” function of public office.
Perhaps it is. Still, lobbying by public entities remains an activity in particular that governments should be open about. Besides the fact that ailing state budgets require voters and officials to scrutinize public spending, the spirit of open government practically demands that legislation being promoted with public funds be known as such. For example, while some governments lobby for more state money, others can be lobbying to weaken state Open Meetings Act, as is .
Only one state takes transparency here seriously. The Minnesota State Auditor summarizing the . The report includes information on contract lobbyists that local entities like cities, counties, and school districts hire, but it goes one step further: it includes membership in taxpayer-funded lobbying associations in the report. These associations are funded by governments, but are generally not subject to the same open records laws that governments are.
Even then, there’s room for improvement: Minnesota does not compile information for local governments that lobby the federal government.
Governments owe it to their citizens to let us know where public funds are being used for lobbying–we should at least be allowed in the discussion. Minnesota may not be perfect, but it’s a start.
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November 8, 2010 by
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Tomorrow, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisor’s will likely vote into law the proposed by former Mayor, Gavin Newsom.
Over a year ago, Newsom—now the lieutenant governor—galvanized San Francisco into when he implemented services and began sharing over 150 government data sets with the public on .
San Francisco’s website has already earned an “A+” transparency rating from Sunshine Review. It would be great to see a major metropolitan city cement Gov 2.0 practices for its future.
H/T:
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