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Proactive Disclosure

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Affirmative disclosure, also known as proactive disclosure, is the revelation of information that may be damaging to the one revealing it.^[1] When used in the terms of open government, it is the practice of the government publishing government data, rather than for an individual's public records request. This data could be published online in a number of forms like RSS, API, upload, download, IG review, or FTP.^[2]

[edit] History of the term

Affirmative disclosure was originally required by the Federal Trade Commission, when they required companies to inform potential customers about ingredients used in products, warnings or advertising corrections.^[3]

[edit] Affirmative disclosure as an evolved FOIA

Michael Hertz, Professor of Law and Director at the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy, recently published a paper describing the failures of the Freedom of Information Act and how affirmative disclosure could be a solution to the dissemination of information in the modern age.^[4]

[FOIA's] in particular, (a) it does not require agencies to generate information, and (b) it imposes only minimal (and frequently disregarded) obligations to disseminate information without being asked. In the Information Age, these restrictions are more problematic than ever. A reinvented FOIA might involve agencies that generate, interpret, and disseminate information for the public benefit; the government would be a sort of non-profit publishing house. We are far from such a world, and it would not be an unmitigated blessing. But we should be moving more in that direction.^[4]

[edit] States proactive disclosure legislation

Below is a chart of legislation passed by states requiring financial databases be disclosed online.^[5]

State	Transparency Site	Enacted Statewide Transparency Legislation	Data Disclosed	Estimated cost-to-date	Estimated Annual Cost
Arkansas	Office of State Procurement	2011 S.B. 221	State expenditures, including information about the purpose of the spending, amount, payor, and vendor information.
Alabama	Open Alabama	2011 S.B. 221	State expenditures, including information about University and Community college spending, Governor's Office Spending, contracts, and leases. Also includes lobbyist records, meetings and campaign finance, performance measurements.
		2009 S.B. 204
Alaska	Alaska Checkbook Online		Vendors and grantees who received payment of more than $1,000. Payments below $1,000 are not included.	$5,000 of staff time, $15,000-$25,000 from existing budget[6]
Arizona	Arizona Openbooks	2011 H.B. 2572	Financial information for Universities including tuition and fees. State revenue and expenditures. Reports on the Arizona Power Authority and police and firefighter state pension plan (PSPRS).
		2010 H.B. 2282
		2008 S.B. 1235
California	Reporting Transparency in Government Website	2009 A.B. 400	External and internal audits of state departments. Statement of Economic Interests, Form 700 and Travel Expense Claim Forms, and contract information	$21,000[7]
Colorado	Transparency Online Project	2009 H.B. 1288	Expenditures categorized by who spent the money, types of goods and services, and goods and services provider. Revenue information by who receives the money and type of revenue.	$75,000 start-up costs + minimal costs [8]	$25,000 "ongoing" cost[8]
Connecticut	Transparency CT	2010 Public Act No. 10-155	State expenditures, compensation, contracts, grants, payments, and pensions.
Delaware	Delaware Online Checkbook		State purchasing and reimbursements for Executive Branch agencies, Other Elected Official agencies, Higher Education, and School Districts.	Existing resources[9]
Florida	Transparency Florida	2009 S.B. 1796	State budget information along with daily operating expenses such as purchasing for state agencies.	Existing resources[10]
Georgia	Open Georgia	2008 S.B. 300	Salaries and travel reimbursements, purchasing, Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR), performance reviews, Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) reports, and Stimulus reports.	Existing resources
Hawaii	State Procurement Office Contracts	2009 S.B. 659	Contracts for Health and Human Services and Goods, Services, and Construction.
		2007 H.B. 122
Idaho	Statewide Contracts		Statewide contracts and rules, policies, and statutes regarding purchasing and contracts.
Illinois	Illinois Transparency & Accountability Portal	2009 H.B. 35	State employee pay, state agency expenditures, state agency contracts, corporate accountability and professional licenses.	Existing resources
Indiana	Active Contracts and Quantity Purchase Agreements	2011 HEA 1004	Active Contracts and Quantity Purchase Agreements (QPAs).
Iowa	Procurement Services	2011 H.F. 45	Procurement services by State Agency and Vendor.
Kansas	KanView	2008 S.B. 316	State revenues and expenditures and Bond Indebtedness.	roughly $100,000 start-up costs + existing resources [11]	existing resources [11]
		2007 H.B. 2457
Kentucky	Open Door Kentucky	2011 S.B. 7	Audits, state investments, tax incentives, election finance, Kentucky At Work, revenue, and expenditures.	Existing resources ($150,000 to be requested for hardware and maintenance)
Louisiana	LaTrac	2008 S.B. 37	Statewide expenditures, University expenditures, and Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) expenditures.	Existing resources ($1 million appropriated for expansion)[6]
		(1st ex. sess.)
Maine	DataShare		Raw data (CSV (comma-separated) and/or KML formats) including state expenses, agency data, and geographic data.
Maryland	Maryland Funding Accountability & Transparency	2008 H.B. 358	Payments to vendors who received more than $25,000 in a fiscal year. Grants and loans of $50,000 or more in a fiscal year.	Existing resources (less than $100,000)[6]
Massachusetts	Massachusetts Transparency	2010 H.B. 4800	State budget, revenue sources, procurement, and state and local government information.
Michigan	State Spending and Accountability Information		State expenditures, executive budget, annual workforce reports, civil service job specifications and wage rates, and contract listing.
Minnesota	Transparency and Accountability Project (TAP Minnesota)	2009 S.F. 2082	Payments to vendors and professional and technical payments.
		2007 H.F. 548
Mississippi	Transparency Mississippi	2011 S.B. 2554	Budget, expenditures, revenue, travel expenses, contracts, leases, grants, and workforce.
		2008 H.B. 101
Missouri	MAP--Missouri Accountability Portal	2010 S.B. 757	Employees, expenditures, stimulus, tax credits, and list of those not paying sales taxes.	Existing resources (less than $100,000)[6]
Montana	State Procurement Bureau--Term Contracts		All term contracts.
Nebraska	NebraskaSpending.gov	2009 L.B. 16	Current and past budgets, property tax and state aid, state contracts, county budgets, school system/other budgets, University system spending, and operating investment pool.	$38,000[6]
Nevada	Nevada Open Government Initiative	2011 A.B. 276	Legislatively approved budget, Governor's recommended budget, revenue and spending, and ARRA spending.	$169,000[12]
New Hampshire	TransparentNH	2011 H.B. 331	Revenue sources and expenditures.
		2010 H.B. 1651
New Jersey	YourMoney.NJ.Gov		Revenue, expenditures, purchasing, public payroll, pension, Government Performance Center, property tax, debt, annual/other reports, executive orders, and a citizen's guide to the budget.
New Mexico	New Mexico Contracts Database Website	2011 S.B. 327	A database of contracts in excess of $20,000.
		2010 S.B. 195
		2009 H.B. 546
New York	Open Book New York		State agency spending, state contracts, local government spending, and stimulus spending.
North Carolina	NC OpenBook	2010 H.B. 961	Budget 101, tax expenditures, grants, contract, DOT contracts, county and municipal fiscal analysis, campaign finance reports, lobbyist directory, and current legislation.
North Dakota	State Procurement Online	2009 S.B. 2018	Bids, solicitations, and state contracts.
Ohio	Ohio Government Accountability and Transparency	2008 H.B. 420	Grants, state procurement, state properties, Think Ohio First, state employees, state budget, regulatory reform, and tax incentives.
Oklahoma	OpenBooks	2007 S.B. 1	State expenditures, spending restrictions, rainy day fund, education lottery, revenue sources, state investment earning and amount received from Gaming Compact.	Initial cost $40,000, future expenses $245-$260,000[13]
Oregon	Oregon Transparency	2011 H.B. 2825	State budget, agencies, performance, revenue sources, expenditures, contracts, procurement, and state workforce.	Existing resources[14]
		2009 H.B. 2500
Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania Contracts e-Library		Searchable database of state contracts	$456,850[15]
Rhode Island	Open Government Transparency		Expenditures by vendor and open government financial records for state agencies.	Used existing monies.[16]
South Carolina	Spending Transparency, Budget and Control Board Transparency Hub		Annual summary spending, monthly detailed spending, spending by vendor, agency budgets, unclaimed property, local government finance reports, state contracts, projects under review, procurement card usage, state salaries above $50,000, and number of employees.	$25,000 - $50,000 from existing resources[6]
South Dakota	OpenSD		State financial information, including contracts, stimulus, revenue forecasts, quick takes, payroll information, vendor payment information, revenues, and expenditures. City, county, and school information including audits.	Existing resources
Tennessee	Open Government		Vendors by quarterly information or by agency, state salaries, audits, fraud waste and abuse, public meetings, and open records.
Texas	Texas Transparency	2007 H.B. 3430	Revenue sources, expenditures, contracts, databases, stimulus reporting, budgets, and investments.	$310,000 + minimal expenditures [17]	minimal expenditure [17]
Utah	Transparent Utah.Gov	2008 S.B. 38	Expenses, revenues, employee compensation, stimulus expense and stimulus revenue for state and local municipalities down to the school district level.	Initial estimate was $480,000, actual cost was $283,250.67[18][19]
Vermont	Dept. of Finance & Mgmt. Reports and Publications		Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR), executive budget recommendations, state budget acts, town payment reports, monthly revenue reports, revenue forecast, payment reports, tax expenditures, contracts for services, and more.
Virginia	Commonwealth Data Point	2009 S.B. 936	State spending, revenue, budget, purchase charge cards, debt, demographics, and local government reports.
		2005 S.B. 934
Washington	Washington State Fiscal Information	2008 S.B. 6818	Budgets, spending, revenue, project mapping, vendor checkbook, staff, state employee salaries, and performance.	roughly $400,000 [20]	roughly $100,000 [20]
West Virginia	State Agency Grant Awards		State agency grant awards by agency and awardee.	Existing resources
Wisconsin	Contract Sunshine		State contracts, purchasing, and bids worth a biennial expenditure of $10,000 or more.
Wyoming	Transparency in Wyoming Government	2009 H.B. 144	Payment distributions and use, annual and fiscal reports, budgets, and documents and publications.

[edit] See Also

• Transparency Checklist
• Freedom of Information Act
• Open Government

[edit] External Links

• Sunlight Foundation, Obama and Disclosure, December 8, 2008
• Open Records, Utah and Affirmative Disclosure, February 5, 2009

[edit] References