Portal:Good news

Washington Task Force Suggests New Records Office

Olympia, WA On Tuesday November 2, the Washington state open records task force announced that it would endorse a new Office of Open Records, which when created by the legislature, would handle open records disputes and reduce the need for pursuing remedies through the judiciary. The Office would be modeled after open records offices in other states, including Pennsylvania and Connecticut. While their function was merely advisory, the committee hopes that the four legislators on the committee will endorse and sponsor a bill to create the office sometime in the near future.^[1]

New California Law Attempts to Sidestep CPRA

The bill, AB 1336, would permit cities to place cameras on public street sweeping vehicles throughout California in order to photograph parking violations. However, what has freedom of information rights activists angered is the portion of the bill which explicitly exempts these photos from public records requests. By creating an exemption outside of the CPRA, the California legislature establishes their power to ear mark exemptions within future bills and thus sidestep the CPRA in an obvious move towards secrecy.^[2]

Illinois governor signs bill to improve FOIA laws

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) championed the open records legislation that Gov. Quinn signed into law. The new law, which will take effect January 1, 2010, will make government more transparent and public records more easily available. Attorney General Madigan has been negotiating this legislation with lawmakers, non-profits, like the Better Government Association and the National Freedom of Information Coalition, and other interested organizations, including the Illinois Press Association.

The new law amends the Illinois Freedom of Information Act to shorten the time frame for governmental bodies to respond to public records requests from seven to five business days. It also shortens the time allowed in an extension from seven to five business days.

Under the new law, Madigan can have her public access counselor make decisions about whether public bodies should or should not release public records, a decision that can then be enforced by the courts.^[3]

Transparency-improving bill on Illinois governor's desk

This Senate Bill that has been passed on to the Governor as of June 26, 2009, amends the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act. It requires that an applicant (for gubernatorial appointment to boards, commissions, authorities, and task forces) must provide specified documents to the Governor's Office of Boards and Commissions, the Office must hold a public hearing before appointing or nominating an applicant, the Office must provide to the Senate specific information on all applicants nominated for Senate confirmation, and the Office must post specified information on its website about appointment requirements, applicants, and appointees.

The bill requires all applicants and appointees to file statements of economic interests. As of now, only nominees for and appointees to positions requiring Senate confirmation must file statements. These changes would be effective immediately.^[4]

Chicago's TIF sunshine falls short

When the Department of Community Development (DCD) spokesperson Susan Massel said, "We believe we've done a good job of meeting the requirements of the ordinance."

The DCD website provides a series of PDF documents in the TIF section that must be downloaded in order to be searched.

The "TIF District Overviews" provides a set of links to seven regions: North, Northwest, West, Southwest, South, Far South, and Central. The "TIF Annual Reports" link provides only six groupings of TIF districts: Central Area, North Side, Northwest Side, South Side, Southwest Side, West Side. Five new TIF districts, all designated in 2009, are not provided on the site, making it difficult to have an accurate count of TIF districts.

Comparing the site to the original legislation, the site does not fulfill the requirements because only the most recent annual reports for TIFs designated after July 30, 2004 are published when the ordinance called for all to be published. Also, many of the links are broken in addition to the five missing TIFs passed in 2009.

Massel called the website "a work in progress," though the deadline has passed.^[3]

Local officials urge FOIA bill amendments

The Illinois State’s Attorneys Association and the Illinois Municipal League are also pushing for changes. They are all worried about excessive access to public records that would produce a need to hire more people to attend to the records retrieval and would result in having to fire someone else in the state's payroll.

The organizations "would scuttle provisions" for a counselor assigned to records access disputes and would have subpoena power. The counselor would issue decisions infallible except by a judge. Those opposing the amendment bill think that it's going to cause more trouble for the state.

Prosecutors and the municipal league officials say the bill on the governor’s desk would give too much power to one person in addition to making too much work for the receivers of FOIA requests. They oppose criminalizing FOIA violations.

"With this new law, providing paperwork about governments' activities becomes more important than the activities themselves," Frang writes. "It is regrettable that there may be cases where municipalities will be forced to lay off firefighters and police officers so that they can afford more FOIA lawyers and other responders to help comply with this 'primary duty.'"

The state's attorney association is concerned that undercover operatives and informants will be in danger of exposure.

Don Craven is the acting director of the Illinois Press Association and a Springfield lawyer who concentrates on public-records law and he says this claim is nonsense because the bill already has clauses protecting these situations.^[3]

Possible FOIA amendments

The Illinois Municipal League wrote a letter in opposition of the amendment bill, saying the state will have to fire police officers and fire fighters in order to higher clerks to do the Freedom of Information Act processing and lawyers to fight the nuisance requests.

The state's attorneys association also wrote a letter to Quinn saying the bill would threaten the state having confidential informants and undercover officers and violate the privacy of crime victims, but the letter did not support the claims.

The Municipal League's letter tells Quinn that citizens will exploit the first-50-pages-are-free rule by sending in requests for 50 pages or less to receive the information they seek. It stated that "FOIA is often used as a political tool not to gather information but to harass and harangue public officials."

"There are questions as to whether the FOIA officer is a de jure or de facto officer, which may trigger issues with appointment procedures and with restrictions on holding multiple offices," the letter says. "There are also potential collective bargaining issues at play."^[3]

North Carolina public records bill advances

Under current state law, judges can require a losing party to pay the winner's attorneys fees, but judges rarely do this in public records cases. The idea is to discourage governments from withholding public records, the bill's supporters say the bill's supporters say.

"The public records are the people's records," said Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill. "They're not our records. They're not the politicians' records."

The Attorney General's Office would have a new division under the bill that would advise about 1,500 governmental units on public records issues. The unit could prevent disputes from going to court by mediating them, hopefully cutting the number of lawsuits while making government more open.^[3]

Public records won't be as available in Ohio starting July 1

"Nobody's stopping anybody from having access to public records," Columbiana County Clerk of Courts Anthony Dattilio said. "They just won't have access to personal information or personal identifiers in that record."

Clerks offices in Ohio will remove personal identifying information from requested documents before handing them over to members of the public, including attorneys and abstractors.

The policies are under the Ohio Supreme Court Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio and take effect July 1. They would strike information such as social security numbers, except for the last four digits, financial account numbers, such as debit card and credit card numbers or banking information, employer and employee identification numbers and a juvenile's name in an abuse, neglect or dependency case, except for the child's initials or a generic abbreviation. However, names and dates of birth will remain public record.

A person cannot walk into a clerk of courts office to request to see a file and have it handed over to them for their perusal anymore. The information that these new policies forbid will have to be stricken from the records before they can see it.^[3]

Concealed Guns, Not Records

"It is vital that some public documents be made available to the public and press, simply because the information in them is important. That is why West Virginia has a public records law, requiring that government officials make most documents available to anyone who asks for them.

A bill approved by the West Virginia state Senate would limit that access in an unacceptable manner. It is SB 378, a measure initially intended to improve cooperation between our state and others in regard to permits to carry concealed weapons."

Arizona Supreme Court Rules Electronic Information Subject to Records Requests

Tuscon, AZ On October 29, 2009, the Arizona Supreme Court delivered a landmark FOIA decision in Lake v. City of Phoenix, determining that electronic "metadata", like creation dates and time stamps of electronic files, are subject to the same records laws as the documents themselves. The decision came about as a result of a public records request made by a police officer for filed performance reports.

Public records held by hired agencies subject to Pennsylvania’s open records law

Report It •	The Good •	The Bad

Clearfield County, PA - Pennsylvania’s Right to Know law has been interpreted by the Office of Open Records to mean that records held by a company hired by a Commonwealth agency are considered public records and are subject to the law. Therefore, the records need to be supplied by the agency even if they do not have physical possession of the required records.

In this case, the Greater Pennsylvania Regional council of Carpenters requested public information about the payroll disbursements of a Clearfield County grant given to the Bionol ethanol project through the Clearfield County Economic Development Corporation. The Office of Open Records ruled that the records are public and still subject to the Right to Know Law.

Bionol estimates the cost to copy the payroll records, redacting social security numbers, is approximately $6000 for the 6,000 pages, and that it would take longer than the 30-day deadline given by the Office of Open Records. Furthermore, Bionol is asking for the payment up front. The Right to Know law limits the county charge for public records copies to 25cents per page. The law does not actually say who would be responsible for the additional cost, so negotiations are in process.^[1]

Pennsylvania Judge Exempts School District Documents and W-2 Forms

Monroe County, Pennsylvania Monroe county judge, Ronald Vican, overturned two rulings of the newly founded Office of Open Records (OOR) this month, dealing a blow to Pennsylvania transparency and open records. The cases revolve around a number of school district documents including information packets and W-2 forms.

Ohio Man Fined for Open Records Request

Cleveland, OH Brain Bardwell was ordered by an Ohio court on Monday to pay $1,050 to Cuyahoga County to cover the cost of the attorney who prosecuted his open records request lawsuit. Bardwell, who runs a non profit group called Citizens for Sunshine, made an open records request for documents relating to a potential medical mart, to be constructed in Cuyahoga County.

Washington Supremes say judicial records not public

Susan Owens, author of Federal Way v. Koenig

OLYMPIA, Washington: On October 15, the Washington State Supreme Court released its decision in City of Federal Way v. Koenig.

In the 7-2 decision, the court holds that Washington's Public Disclosure Act does not apply to the state's judicial records. ^[2]

Michigan Public Records Request Reveals the Release of Dangerous Prisoners

• Michigan Freedom of Information Act

Florida judge rules that NCAA documents are public

The FSU football team -- sanctioned by the NCAA -- playing Virginia Tech in 2005

TALLAHASSEE, Florida: On October 1, Judge Philip Padovano of the Florida First District Court of Appeal wrote a 26-page ruling which says that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) must release the documents it used in the course of deciding the sanctions it ultimately levied against Florida State University’s athletic department over a cheating scandal. The documents had been requested by several Florida newspapers under the Florida Sunshine Law. The NCAA argued that the documents were private because the NCAA is a private organization. Padovano, however, said the documents must be made public because “The appeal by the university is a matter of public concern. It is not transformed into a private matter merely because the documents the university lawyers used to prepare the appeal reside on a computer owned by a private organization.”^[3]

In August, circuit judge John Cooper ordered the NCAA to release the information. The NCAA appealed Cooper's decision. Padovano's ruling upheld Cooper's decision.^[4]

Open records request leads to hefty settlement against a state senator

Madison, Wisconsin: Because of information found on staffers' personal emails, state senator Dan Kapanke R-La Crosse, was ordered on September 11 to pay a fine in the amount of $100 for misallocating funds.^[5] The settlement added $38,000 in legal fees to be paid by Kapanke to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, and it will be paid by the Department of Administration's risk management fund. Kapanke will personally pay the $100 fine.^[6]

The settlement in Dane County Circuit Court is a result of a public records request about an economic forum Kapanke held in June, 2009 that was originally intended to be sponsored by Kapanke's office, but ended up being paid for by campaign funds. The Government Accountability Board had ruled that one of Kapanke's staffers failed to request vacation time to work at the event.^[6] June 3 and June 8 emails referring to the forum were requested by the DPW who suspected that the event was campaign related. Kapanke's office responded to the order of the WGAB, claiming the emails did not exist. Further investigation by the Legislative Technology Services Bureau did find an email listing the event in Kapanke's chief of staff's personal email account.

Pennsylvania township votes to appeal ombudsman's ruling

YORK TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania: The Board of Commissioners of York Township in York County, Pennsylvania voted on September 8 to appeal a decision of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records. In a possibly unprecedented move, however, the Board of Commissioners will not foot the bill for the legal appeal; rather, one commissioner will personally pay for the legal fight.^[7]

The York Township Commissioners had denied several neighborhood housing projects early in 2009. The emails request was made to the Commissioners by the developer's attorney, but it was denied. The attorney then took the request to the state office of open records, who ruled that the township was required to turn over the emails. The developer responded by filing a lawsuit suggesting that two of the Commissioners were involved in an illegal conspiracy to stop the project.

The Board of Commissioners had twice previously voted not to appeal the directive to the York County Court of Common Pleas and had urged the two commissioners to turn over the personal and business emails. In a closed session, the 3-2 decision to fight the decision of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records stipulates that no taxpayer funds be used in the legal battle.^[7]

Secret camera records must be made public, judge rules

EVERETT, Washington: Snohomish County Superior Court judge David Kurtz ruled on Wednesday, September 16 that the Everett School District in Snohomish County is required under the Washington Public Records Act to provide a local teacher's union with the records it requested about how a secret camera was installed in a classroom.^[8]

The union requested the records in May 2008 after it learned that the school district had made a decision to install a secret surveillance camera in the classroom of teacher Kay Powers, a Cascade High School teacher. The district believed that Powers was helping students publish an underground student newspaper using school equipment. They determined that she was, and ultimately suspended and fired her.

New interactive Texas budget project

The Texas Legislative Budget Board's budget plan is available online in a very large PDF document, but this being the only form of the budget making examining the budget difficult. It is not in a machine-readable format nor is it open for programming applications by the public.

The LBJ School has taken on a project to make the budget as interactive and informative as possible. The school has put the President’s budge as well as the state level. They have included of the appropriations process and specific budget mark-ups on the budget project.

Some team members who have worked the Texas side of the project focused on this proposed legislation. Other members built support from other state officials and interest groups.^[1]

Montana group monitors spending vote-for-vote

Montanans in Action's Legistats keeps a updated total of votes by legislators in Montana and gives them grades based on the record. The site provides a lot of detail, so much that visitors can click on a representative to a breakdown by category of spending, and then see each bill that he or she voted on.

The site ranks votes against expensive legislation higher, raising representatives' rankings. The highest ranking senator on the website, Joe Balyeat, comes in at -$366,738,633, having voted to cut spending. The senator in last place, Kim Gillan, voted to spend a lot of tax dollars, scoring $426,657,163.

Ocean State Policy Research Institute launches stimulus watch site

The new site watches the stimulus funds coming into the state for a variety of projects and provides a forum for people to express support or opposition to the projects. The site is a "wiki," allowing users to contribute and edit to the descriptions of projects and forums and OSPRI called for taxpayer involvement.

"We've created this website to not only track how the stimulus funds are being spent, but to serve as an online town hall meeting for the entire state," said Bill Felkner, President of OSPRI. "The taxpayers now have a way to make their opinions heard and show their support or opposition by 'voting' for or against these projects. Now we need your vote!"

Following the launch of this site, OSPRI now plans to inform numerous state and local elected officials of the new website. The non-profit wants to encourage them to watch the feedback and comments that constituents post.

"Our goal is bring the voters and the elected officials together," Felkner said. "Lobbyists should not control our government, we, the people, should control our government. It's time for officials to stop listening with their wallets and start listening with their ears."

After FOIA battle with teacher, county schools relent

"Mark Crockett is no stranger to public records. The teacher at Western Albemarle High School has used salary information to compare pay raises for the district’s administrators and teachers and has sifted documents to challenge a consultant who concluded teachers didn’t value an early retirement incentive program. But as the state celebrated government transparency with Sunshine Week March 15-21, Crockett learned Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act doesn’t free all information equally.

Crocket wanted to read anonymous comments from a survey conducted last fall by the Albemarle County Public Schools’ Quality Council in order to assess attitudes about school leadership. Numeric results were released in February, but Crockett wanted a closer look at the comments."

Lawmaker Knudson honored for his work to open records

"Sen. Dave Knudson of Sioux Falls was given the Eagle Award from the South Dakota Newspaper Association for his sponsorship of open-records legislation that recently was signed into law.

The annual award goes to an individual or group that has worked to protect and enhance the people's right to know. It was presented Friday evening at the 127th annual SDNA convention in Watertown."

Citizen Wins FOI Battle With Lincoln County

"A Lincoln County woman’s lengthy battle to force county officials to release public records has ended in a victory for her – and for the public.

“I feel vindicated,” said Joann Hager of Tri-County Animal Rescue. “It took over 18 months to receive copies of documents. I feel it will be a victory for the residents of Lincoln County if processes are changed and new procedures are developed to store/maintain public records. Public documents were destroyed and the board of commissioners admitted to this,” she said."

Filing reversed roles for deputy county attorney

"This was something new in the career of James McCubbin.

As a deputy attorney for Missoula County, McCubbin and others in his office are regularly on the receiving end of public records requests.

Someone wants the minutes of an open meeting. A Realtor wants a copy of a deed. A reporter wants the transcript of an e-mail exchange between public officials.

But there was McCubbin last spring, filing a records request of his own on behalf of the county - to an agency in the federal government.

And here he is, nearly a year later, still alive to talk about it."

Newspapers provide broadest access to public records

"A city seeks bids for road maintenance. A township announces its election and annual meeting. A county publishes its annual list of delinquent taxes.

All three items are of public interest, and all are prominently displayed under the “public notices” sections in Minnesota newspapers.

Yet, certain groups are lobbying the Minnesota Legislature to eliminate the requirement for cities, counties and schools to disperse this information in newspapers – an avenue that provides order, accuracy and reliability in the dissemination of information important to citizens’ everyday lives. Reminding citizens and public officials about the public’s right of access to government information is the focus of “Sunshine Week: Your Right to Know,” March 15-21."

FOI award recognizes citizen lobbyist

"A nonprofit group that fights for the public's right to government information is honoring a St. Paul man for doing exactly that.

Rich Neumeister was named Wednesday as the winner of the John R. Finnegan Award, given each year by the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information.

The group said Neumeister has worked for 25 years as a citizen lobbyist. He's appeared before numerous legislative committees and worked with legislators on issues such as freedom of information, privacy rights and government accountability."

Lawmaker wants to expand 'Sunshine' laws

"A state lawmaker wants to expand the Freedom of Information Act and open to scrutiny records of the three branches of government currently exempt from disclosure.

"We (legislators) don't have to follow the law," said state Rep. Pete Lund, a Shelby Township Republican.

Under current law, the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to the governor, lieutenant governor, Legislature or judiciary, Lund said."

Nevada News Bureau says state transparency site needs improvement

Eighteen months have passed since Gov. Jim Gibbons issued an executive order requiring the state’s financial information to be posted on an easily searchable website for the public.

Nevada’s transparency website has been up and accessible since January. However, the only content available so far is budget and spending information for fiscal years 2006 to 2008. It now includes the 2009-11 legislatively approved budget.

As of early November 2009, the website have a searchable database and taxpayers can delve into detail showing actual payments to vendors, State Budget Director Andrew Clinger said said. Citizens can search by vendor name or by agency.

However, financial data is still being loaded into the system for fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30, as well as for the current 2010 budget year. The site is supposed to have the current budget and spending information by the end of October. The information will supposedly be updated nightly, Clinger said. After it reaches this step in development, Clinger said Nevada’s site will be about 70 percent complete. It will be missing data on contracts between state agencies and other entities as well as details of the state payroll is also a work in progress.^[1]

Oklahomans for Responsible Government call for improved transparency website

When Oklahoma Open Books launched two years ago, it was one of the first websites devoted to state government transparency. The website tracks the overall spending of state agencies as well as their specific expenditures. In addition, the website lists the state payroll, state grants, and state contracts. ^[2]

Since Open Books launched, many other states have followed suit with their own government transparency websites. A critic from the OFRP, Peter Rudy, says that Oklahoma's website has fallen behind other states. Rudy notes that the website fails to disclose the travel expenses of individual employees, does not contain a check register, and does not track the reception of federal stimulus money.^[3]

Delaware think tank launches school transparency website

The website contains budget data and performance measures for Delaware's K-12 public schools. It is accumulated for policymakers, school administrators, teachers, school board members, taxpayers and parents to access. One can search current and historical information for each of Delaware's 19 school districts. One can compare up to five school districts at a time.

The site only has only school district information, but it will be expanded to included school-level data.

The data on this website is directly from the State of Delaware Department of Education website. SunlightOnSchools.org is modeled after the North Dakota Policy Council's SunshineOnSchools.org, which had previously been emulated by the Montana Policy Institute, which hosts SchoolsOpenMT.org.^[1]

Kansas think tank reveals transparency website

Kansans have a clear look at how their state and local tax dollars are spent. Its sponsor is the Kansas Policy Institute, "an independent non-profit organization that works to put citizens in charge of open, efficient government."

KansasOpenGov gives taxpayers an unbiased look at spending and other raw data. Kansans can participate in a forum in order to add their own thoughts and analysis. There are sources from all official State government agencies and departments that provided the information. The think tank is working on gathering data from school districts and many local government entities.^[1]

Massachusetts think tank reveals new transparency websites

MassOpenBooks.org is an online tool where visitors can get data on state disbursements, state employees’ salaries and retiree pensions.

The site is sponsored by the Shamie Center for Better Government at Pioneer Institute.

It's a reference and discussion for people to find out what state employees’ make, who is getting what kind of pension and payments made by government agencies to businesses and people. It will be possible to obtain data from specific people or departments, or make comparisons.

The data used in this website are public records obtained from the State Comptroller’s Office and the State Retirement Board.^[4]

MassReportCards.org is a tool for district and school ratings that allows superintendents, parents and students see how their school ranks in the state.

It allows people to compare schools with other schools from across Massachusetts and rate them oneself.

It was designed for parents seeking better educational choices for their children, teachers and administrators who want to know how their school stacks up, researchers looking for hard data, and every citizen watching their tax dollars.^[5]

Washington think tank reveals school district transparency project

The new project aims to open school districts’ books and check registers and show them online.

In order for taxpayers to know how a school district spends its money by allowing individuals to look into the details of a district’s budget to understand where their tax dollars go and to whom.

In 2008, the EFF asked each school district, in a letter to the superintendent, in the state to link to their budgets and warrants on the websites' homepages. The Washington Public Records Act makes the information public, the EFF just asked school districts to make it readily available to parents and taxpayers. The EFF then drafted a follow-up letter to each district encouraging greater participation.^[6]

As of October 2009, seven school districts have responded by posting their budgets and check registers online, making them the first members of the EFF School District Transparency Honor Roll.

The EFF is encouraging parents and other Washington state taxpayers to encourage the other 289 districts to follow their positive example. Some districts that have refused to post budgets or expenditures online, some districts are considering the request, and some districts have not responded.^[7]

Category:Watchdog

The West Virginia Examiner announces sister website, West Virginia Watchdog

The new site will have the same content as the West Virginia Examiner with additional features, including: expanded social networking connectivity, more channels for news delivery (email newsletter sign-up, mobile version, and text messege), a live twitter stream, and more.

The first story with which WV Watchdog open is an investigation of Rockefeller Family Foundation funding of the anti-coal movement in [[West Virginia]] and nationally. There is a notable tug Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) feels from his anti-coal family and President Barack Obama and from the pro-coal state he serves.^[8]

Huntington Indiana passes Transparency Resolution

ICOG (Indiana Coaltion For Open Government) likes to highlight examples of government officials acting to improve access. Last month in Huntington, a split decision by the Common Council are granting access to local government information, including financial transactions, on that city's new Web site.

Council member Steve McIntyre led the effort. The council in May had passed McIntyre's resolution requiring the city to post much more information on the Web site than it previously had made available online. Because the vote was so close – 4-3 – McIntyre felt the need for more public discussion of the issue.

The resolution requires posting a record of every payment by the city, including the amount and, except where prohibited by law, the identity of the recipient. It also mandates posting of a roster of all “government personnel” – city employees, officers, elected officials and members of boards and commissions. McIntyre said the identities of employees requiring confidentiality, such as undercover police officers, would not be made public.

White House will release visitor logs

The Obama administration will make public a listing of visitors to the White House, which is different than the policy of former presidents of both parties.

"For the first time in history, records of White House visitors will be made available on an ongoing basis," President Obama said in a statement. "We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside."

Citizens will be able to view White House visitors from the previous 90-120 days online.

Anyone who is being considered for high-level appointments, such as Supreme Court candidates, as well as those whose presence at the White House would be a national security risk will be withheld under the policy.^[1]

Washington Task Force Suggests New Records Office

Olympia, WA On Tuesday November 2, the Washington state open records task force announced that it would endorse a new Office of Open Records, which when created by the legislature, would handle open records disputes and reduce the need for pursuing remedies through the judiciary. The Office would be modeled after open records offices in other states, including Pennsylvania and Connecticut. While their function was merely advisory, the committee hopes that the four legislators on the committee will endorse and sponsor a bill to create the office sometime in the near future.^[1]

Nevada News Bureau says state transparency site needs improvement

Eighteen months have passed since Gov. Jim Gibbons issued an executive order requiring the state’s financial information to be posted on an easily searchable website for the public.

Nevada’s transparency website has been up and accessible since January. However, the only content available so far is budget and spending information for fiscal years 2006 to 2008. It now includes the 2009-11 legislatively approved budget.

As of early November 2009, the website have a searchable database and taxpayers can delve into detail showing actual payments to vendors, State Budget Director Andrew Clinger said said. Citizens can search by vendor name or by agency.

However, financial data is still being loaded into the system for fiscal year 2009, which ended June 30, as well as for the current 2010 budget year. The site is supposed to have the current budget and spending information by the end of October. The information will supposedly be updated nightly, Clinger said. After it reaches this step in development, Clinger said Nevada’s site will be about 70 percent complete. It will be missing data on contracts between state agencies and other entities as well as details of the state payroll is also a work in progress.^[2]

Oklahomans for Responsible Government call for improved transparency website

When Oklahoma Open Books launched two years ago, it was one of the first websites devoted to state government transparency. The website tracks the overall spending of state agencies as well as their specific expenditures. In addition, the website lists the state payroll, state grants, and state contracts. ^[3]

Since Open Books launched, many other states have followed suit with their own government transparency websites. A critic from the OFRP, Peter Rudy, says that Oklahoma's website has fallen behind other states. Rudy notes that the website fails to disclose the travel expenses of individual employees, does not contain a check register, and does not track the reception of federal stimulus money.^[4]

Delaware think tank launches school transparency website

The website contains budget data and performance measures for Delaware's K-12 public schools. It is accumulated for policymakers, school administrators, teachers, school board members, taxpayers and parents to access. One can search current and historical information for each of Delaware's 19 school districts. One can compare up to five school districts at a time.

The site only has only school district information, but it will be expanded to included school-level data.

The data on this website is directly from the State of Delaware Department of Education website. SunlightOnSchools.org is modeled after the North Dakota Policy Council's SunshineOnSchools.org, which had previously been emulated by the Montana Policy Institute, which hosts SchoolsOpenMT.org.^[2]

Kansas think tank reveals transparency website

Kansans have a clear look at how their state and local tax dollars are spent. Its sponsor is the Kansas Policy Institute, "an independent non-profit organization that works to put citizens in charge of open, efficient government."

KansasOpenGov gives taxpayers an unbiased look at spending and other raw data. Kansans can participate in a forum in order to add their own thoughts and analysis. There are sources from all official State government agencies and departments that provided the information. The think tank is working on gathering data from school districts and many local government entities.^[2]

Massachusetts think tank reveals new transparency websites

MassOpenBooks.org is an online tool where visitors can get data on state disbursements, state employees’ salaries and retiree pensions.

The site is sponsored by the Shamie Center for Better Government at Pioneer Institute.

It's a reference and discussion for people to find out what state employees’ make, who is getting what kind of pension and payments made by government agencies to businesses and people. It will be possible to obtain data from specific people or departments, or make comparisons.

The data used in this website are public records obtained from the State Comptroller’s Office and the State Retirement Board.^[5]

MassReportCards.org is a tool for district and school ratings that allows superintendents, parents and students see how their school ranks in the state.

It allows people to compare schools with other schools from across Massachusetts and rate them oneself.

It was designed for parents seeking better educational choices for their children, teachers and administrators who want to know how their school stacks up, researchers looking for hard data, and every citizen watching their tax dollars.^[6]

Washington think tank reveals school district transparency project

The new project aims to open school districts’ books and check registers and show them online.

In order for taxpayers to know how a school district spends its money by allowing individuals to look into the details of a district’s budget to understand where their tax dollars go and to whom.

In 2008, the EFF asked each school district, in a letter to the superintendent, in the state to link to their budgets and warrants on the websites' homepages. The Washington Public Records Act makes the information public, the EFF just asked school districts to make it readily available to parents and taxpayers. The EFF then drafted a follow-up letter to each district encouraging greater participation.^[7]

As of October 2009, seven school districts have responded by posting their budgets and check registers online, making them the first members of the EFF School District Transparency Honor Roll.

The EFF is encouraging parents and other Washington state taxpayers to encourage the other 289 districts to follow their positive example. Some districts that have refused to post budgets or expenditures online, some districts are considering the request, and some districts have not responded.^[8]

Governor Crist requests a state-wide corruption investigation

Crist has called for an eighteen member grand jury, which would last for a year and would be filled by citizens. The grand jury would be created in order to respond to two felt needs in Florida; outing corrupted public officials and toughening the corruption laws. The jury would have the authority to indict any public officials who are suspected of corruption and to recommend changes to the current corruption laws ^[9].

Crist says that corruption is a problem state-wide, but it is worst, he says, in South Florida. In the last month alone, many South Florida politicians have been the subjects of corruption cases. The list includes a Broward County Commissioner and School Board member, and three Commissioners from Palm Beach County. It also includes a political fundraiser and former Crist backer, Alan Mendelsohn, who is from Hollywood, Florida ^[10].

In the midst of the corruption scandals, the Florida Attorney General has expressed dissatisfaction with the current corruption laws in the state, which are much less strict than the federal corruption laws. The lenient corruption laws in Florida make prosecution difficult ^[11].

Accountability in Colorado after wasteful spending

Jones paid $940 to the state for 2.5 years of personal calls he made on his state cellphone. The media looked into and asked about his expenses and exposed the extraneous spending.

The payback was almost half of the total $2,227 billed to Jones' cellphone since he started the job. Later, reports about expensive meals and new office furniture were billed to Jones' expense account at a time of severe state budget cuts.

The Department of Education requires its employees to reimburse the state monthly for anything more than the occasional, short personal call.

"He knew about the policy, and he just hadn't done it," said department spokesman Mark Stevens. "It was an oversight."

Sunlight in Illinois school districts

SB 2270 is sponsored by Daniel Cronin, Kirk Dillard, Chris Lauzen, and John Millner in the Senate. It is sponsored by Sandra M. Pihos, Patricia R. Bellock, Sandy Cole, Renée Kosel, Jack D. Franks, Keith Farnham and Linda Chapa LaVia in the House. The bill will require every school district to post on its website a “compensation report” for all administrative officials in the district, including salaries, benefits, pension contributions and bonuses.^[12]