Continue reading "Public Records Files: When in Doubt, Toss 'em Out" »
Continue reading "Public Records Files: When in Doubt, Toss 'em Out" »
Posted at 05:23 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
OPEN GOVERNMENT -- The Assembly Higher Education Committee on Tuesday approved SB 330 – a reintroduction of last year’s SB 218 – to apply the California Public Records Act (CPRA) to nonprofit 'auxiliary' organizations that perform government functions at campuses of the University of California, California State University, and California’s community colleges, reports the office of Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), author of both bills.
Continue reading "Open Campus Auxiliary Bill Nears Governor' Desk" »
Posted at 06:24 PM in Freedom of Assembly, Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Berkeley Sunshine Ordinance a Long Time Waiting" »
Posted at 06:44 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Kagan: Obama's Repeated Advocate for Secrecy" »
Posted at 06:01 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
OPEN GOVERNMENT -- Last month, after public reaction to a video journalist's ouster from a work session of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) North Coast Regional Stakeholder Group, MLPA staff decided to drop its no-taping policy. But that move has not eased tensions between those tied to the planning process for areas off the California coast where fishing will be banned and sport anglers who advocate retaining open fishing areas, reports Ambrosia Sarabia in The Log, a boating and fishing newspaper. The result is a public records lawsuit.
Continue reading "Marine No-Fishing Zone Process Prompts Lawsuit" »
Posted at 04:51 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Contest Seeks 'Apps' to Connect Public Data Dots " »
Posted at 06:15 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "From Paper to Digital Files: A Tale of Two Cities" »
Posted at 05:50 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
OPEN GOVERNMENT -- Everyone knows that the deliberative process requires secrecy in order to encourage the candid expression of views to and by decision-makers that ensures the highest quality policy development. The trouble is, what everyone knows is an assumption, not a fact, and often contrary to fact, according to a new law review article noted by government secrecy pundit Steven Aftergood:
Continue reading "Article Challenges Deliberative Secrecy Dogma" »
Posted at 04:24 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Council's E-messaging During Meetings Tamed?" »
Posted at 06:35 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 04:55 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
OPEN GOVERNMENT -- An 86-year-old community activist who has fought for years for open government was honored Saturday morning as Oakland's Mother of the Year, reports Kelly Rayburn in the Oakland Tribune.
Continue reading "A Sunshine Hero Saluted as Mother of the Year" »
Posted at 05:43 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 04:59 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "State Senate Gives Sunshine Law Its Own Forum" »
Posted at 05:55 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 05:22 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Monterey County Audit Gets Very Mixed Results" »
Posted at 05:52 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
OPEN GOVERNMENT -- The City of Alameda's new Sunshine Issue Spotting Task Force will hold the first of several meetings tomorrow (March 24), tasked with reviewing, identifying, and prioritizing key issues of concern related to improving the public's access to City information.
Continue reading "Alameda Sunshine Issue Panel Meets Wednesday" »
Posted at 05:33 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Memo to Coaches: No More Hail Mary Passes" »
Posted at 06:16 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Lawmaker Will Query Candidates on Sunshine Bill" »
Posted at 05:59 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Sunshine for a Corruption-Troubled County?" »
Posted at 04:21 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "CalAware, McKee Returning to Court Fights" »
Posted at 03:29 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
OPEN GOVERNMENT -- The board of directors of Californians Aware elected new officers and added three directors at its meeting Saturday in San Diego. As in its first six years, the leadership of the organization is shared equally by professionals in government service, civic life, law and journalism.
Continue reading "CalAware Has a New and Again Diverse Board" »
Posted at 07:33 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Judge Aims Major Secrecy Charge at Court Chiefs" »
Posted at 06:20 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
OPEN GOVERNMENT -- Last fall Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican, vetoed a bill that would have required state agencies to post most of their contracts for services on an Internet website in a searchable database. AB 756 was sought by a government worker bargaining unit, the Service Employees International Union local for Sacramento, and also the Professional Engineers in California Government, who argued that the state was wasting money by outsourcing computer maintenance and consulting contracts. Now David Cameron, head of the UK's Conservative Party and candidate for Prime Minister, is reportedly vowing that if elected he will next year begin "publishing" details of all government contracts worth more than £25,000—to help pinpoint waste.
Continue reading "How to Tell When an Idea Has Come of Age" »
Posted at 04:56 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Bureaucrats Offer Local Agency Sunshine Ratings" »
Posted at 12:25 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
OPEN GOVERNMENT -- About 70 public officials and citizen watchdogs from the Yucca Valley area gathered last week for an all-day training session on the local agency open meeting law and the California Public Records Act, presented by Californians Aware.
Continue reading "Officials, Watchdogs Get CalAware Training Day" »
Posted at 06:25 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "City Could Make Some 'Private' E-mails Public" »
Posted at 06:51 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 04:46 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Continue reading "Vetoed Transparency, Whistleblower Bills Revived" »
Posted at 04:35 PM in Open Government, Whistleblower Protection | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Posted at 05:17 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
OPEN GOVERNMENT -- The White House this morning released a long-awaited Open Government Directive
that follows up on the president's promise—memorialized on his first
full day of office—to usher in a new era of transparent,
participatory governance. says Peter M Shane, the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law at the Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, writing in the Huffington Post. But what's needed like never before among both old- and new-style journalists, he says, are technically adept translators of exposed data into facts that tell news stories.
Continue reading "White House Edict Puts Premium on Interpreters" »
Posted at 05:25 PM in Open Government | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)