Making Government Transparent and Accountable
The Sunlight Foundation uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable. Underlying all of our efforts is a fundamental belief that increased transparency will improve the public's confidence in government
The Sunlight Foundation Blog
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New York Senate’s Big Google Adventure
The New York Senate’s strides toward greater transparency hasn’t stalled since we last visited them. A huge step forward was just announced with the latest portal, Open Legislation. This site is a legislation search engine modeled after the simplicity and function of Google.
I love that you can search legislation by sponsor, committee, by recent actions and/or votes. This is a great way for citizens to navigate a system as complex as the New York Senate. It makes me believe that the creators thought a great deal about user experience and how people search – and for a government site that is a huge accomplishment. What is really exceptional is that they didn’t stop with search but also allow commenting on legislation and is available in formats like XML and JSON. And to put an extra smile on your face the whole site is under a Creative Commons license.
I really encourage people to go digging around, find ways to improve the site and let them know. Given that it’s in beta there is still some room for improvement but what a great start!
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NY’s Project Sunlight
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo today unveiled "Project Sunlight," a powerful and easy-to-use website giving the public unprecedented access to the workings of state government and the information it keeps. While not directly affiliated with us, imitation is the highest form of flattery. We also think that this beta website can provide a model for other states.
New York’s Project Sunlight allows tracking, in as real time as the reports are available, seven different state databases — campaign financing, lobbying, agency contracts, member items, legislation and both for-profit and not-for-profit corporations — and the links between them.
The website — which went live today at 3 PM — also offers a map of the state allowing users to search for member item spending by locality and includes videos to enhance the ease with which users can understand the educational materials.
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Sunlight’s Catching
Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
Yesterday New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced "Project Sunlight," New York State's first-ever comprehensive Internet database that will track donors, lobbyists, special interests, state contracts, and elected officials, and the links between them.
Seems like the situation with information about New York politics is not unlike the federal scenario:
While many databases are currently public domain, they are difficult to navigate. Additionally, the current process of accessing public information can be burdensome and time consuming. Project Sunlight goes well beyond the existing systems in making public information accessible. By combining multiple databases into a single, easy-to-use Internet resource, New Yorkers will be able to quickly examine elected officials' voting records and campaign contributors, and find outwhich entities may have benefited from their actions
A long-time public interest advocate — Blair Horner — a 25 year veteran of NYPIRG and an authority on government ethics and reform will head the project.
This is very exciting
