This
week is a big week for the open government community — it's Sunshine Week,
an annual push to
promote open government values. Here are a few happenings in the open
government world that are worth your attention:
- Agency response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests
under scrutiny
The National Security Archive released the findings of their government-wide FOIA audit on Sunday, which showed that agency response to the Administration's new FOIA guidelines has been mixed. A minority of agencies, for example, have responded to the Obama and Holder Memos with concrete changes in their FOIA practices, and requests dating back from 18 years ago still linger in the system.
As the Archive's General Counsel Meredith Fuchs put it, "One year is too early to render a final judgment on how far President Obama can move the government toward openness, but this Audit finds that much more pressure and leadership will be necessary, both inside and outside the government."
Amid other colorful statements, Norm Eisen, the White House special counsel for ethics and government reform, voiced an objection to the Audit's methodology at the National Freedom of Information Conference on Monday.
Meanwhile, after reviewing the FOIA reports from 17 major agencies, the Associated Press has found an increase in the use of most of the law's exemptions to withhold information in 2009. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) also issued their own critique of the current FOIA request landscape.
- Representatives seeking members for the "transparency caucus"
The Hill reported on Monday that Representatives Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Mike Quigley (D-IL) are creating a special bipartisan caucus to focus on making government information more accessible to the public. No word on who else will be involved, but recruitment is reportedly underway.
- Faster FOIA Act aims to speed up FOIA turnaround
POGO has signed on to a letter supporting the Faster FOIA Act, which would create a commission to study how agencies could reduce delays in processing FOIA requests. The commission would disband after submitting a report of its findings to Congress.
- Introducing
The Public Online Information Act (POIA)
POGO has also signed on to a letter urging Congress to conduct a hearing on this bill submitted by Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY). Taking the guidelines set forth in the Open Government Directive one step further, the POIA would require executive branch agencies to publish information on the internet in a timely fashion. POGO hopes a hearing would spark debate on information quality — how can we make sure that the public has access to the most useful data, and that agencies are not over-burdened with compiling information that is not as valuable?
-
"Leading Practices" for Open Government Plans are on the way
POGO, along with other groups in the open government community, has been working with officials from executive branch agencies to develop "stretch goals" for agencies as they put together their Open Government Plans (due April 7). We'll offer a closer look at these leading practices once they're published, which we've heard will happen in the next few days.
- And speaking of the executive branch...
The White House yesterday released a memo urging agencies to update their FOIA guidance and training materials, and assess whether their FOIA offices have adequate resources.
POGO's hoping that all this talk of sunshine will find its way into other corners of government as well. On Monday, for example, we told you about the idea implementing a public database disclosing the financial arrangements (i.e. consulting) between NIH grantees and health companies. We also hope that Congress keeps transparency in mind as it moves forward with financial sector regulation, especially when it comes to the sector's self-regulatory organization, FINRA. And let's not forget about the forthcoming government contractor performance and integrity database, FAPIIS, which looks like it will also remain shielded from public view. A little sunshine in all these areas would certainly warm our hearts.
-- Bryan Rahija
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