Sunlight Foundation

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

• Transparency in New Mexico: The 2010 Legislature

  By Avelino Maestas on 02/23/10 @ 8:38 am | 0 Comments

  This year brings a landmark for the Sunlight Foundation. We’ve been hinting for some time that we’re going to make a serious play in state government, and New Mexico is one of the first where we’ll focus those efforts. As my colleague Noah wrote earlier this month, the state’s House of Representatives has voted to expand the presence of webcams in its proceedings. It was an early sign during the 2010 legislative session that New Mexico’s lawmakers are beginning to take open government seriously. It was a also welcome sign, but when the session ended last week it was clear that open-government advocates will remain busy in the 2011 session.

  The state has been plagued by corruption and ethics investigations in recent years, and while the Sunlight Foundation doesn’t have a dog in that particular fight we do recognize (and support) the role transparency can play in helping citizens hold their elected officials accountable. From Sunlight’s perspective, there are a number of interesting questions raised by New Mexico’s legislature and the “state of transparency” there, some unique to the Land of Enchantment and some that will be applicable in other locales as well. For starters, the state legislature is part time—they just completed a 30-day session (every other year it’s 60 days). That’s true for many states, but in New Mexico legislators aren’t paid for their work in Santa Fe. It also means lawmakers have precious little time to consider legislation. As you’re aware, the Sunlight Foundation has long called on Congress to post legislation online for 72 hours prior to a vote. How would such a rule be feasible in a short legislative session like the one underway in New Mexico?
  (Continue reading…)

  

• State Level Data Opening Up

  By Paul Blumenthal on 11/24/09 @ 6:11 pm | 0 Comments

  This is from US Deputy CIO for Open Government Beth Noveck:

  Inspired by the President’s call for more open government, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts launched its data catalogue, following in the footsteps of Washington, DC, San Francisco, New York, and elsewhere around the country (as well as cities in Canada and the UK), to provide public access to information by and about government. What makes this exciting is not merely having transportation information available in machine-readable formats, but that professional and amateur enthusiasts can then get together, as they did last weekend, to create new software applications and data visualizations to better enable public transit riders to track arrival times for the next subway, bus, or ferry. Publishing government information online facilitates this kind of useful collaboration between government and the public that transforms dry data into the tools that improve people’s lives. (For another great example, check out what happened when we published the Federal Register for people to use.)

  The National Association of State CIOs is helping to spur this movement toward greater data transparency at the state level by publishing “Guidance for Opening the Doors to State Data.”

  As my colleague John Wonderlich wrote earlier this year in a post about the importance of Recovery.gov, “The Internet has been recognized as having a central — even fundamental — role in enabling oversight and public access.” In the case of the state and city level bulk data you can make the case that the Internet is also being recognized as making people’s lives easier. Just ask anyone in here in Washington, D.C. about checking Metro and bus arrivals online or on your iPhone or Android. There is a large amount of information that our city releases that can be turned into useful applications that make the lives of Washingtonians easier. If you don’t live in New York or San Francisco or Toronto or Vancouver or any other city that has bulk data access, you should really be advocating for it.

  

• State Transparency Roundup

  By Nisha Thompson on 02/25/08 @ 4:58 pm | 0 Comments

  While we work on more transparency for Congress it’s important to note that federal efforts for openness can have a positive effect on state government. On the flip side the states can take the lead on disclosure or they can be less open this makes them great places to see how transparency is valued. Let’s see what the states are up to:

  Pennsylvania passed the Right to Know law that makes most government records public. There are 30 exemptions that would keep records sealed these mostly deal with safety and private information. People can request documents by mail, e-mail, fax or any other electronic means as provided by the agency. Response to requests shall be made within five business days.

  Mississippi is in the dog house with a slew of new legislation that would close the door to the public by giving various groups exemption to the open meeting or public information laws. This includes exempting airlines from open meetings, judicial nomination advisory committee, also law enforcement.

  The Washington senate approved legislation, senate bill 6818, that would require the state have a state expenditure website set up by January 2009

  New York City has a Citywide Performance Reporting (CPR) online tool performance tracking tool that will help make City agency performance transparent and accountable. From this database you can find out how state agency’s performance is based on themes. Themes are groups of related government services.

  Salary Database’s on a state level have become more prevalent. 15 states have databases that are maintained by local newspapers. Iowa, Georgia, and Oklahoma have state sponsored databases. WikiFoia has a great list of them all and where you can find them.