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THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW - March 22, 2010
New Legislation Will Bring Light to Government's Dark Spaces
by: Allen McDuffee
truthout-Report
On Tuesday, Rep. Steve Israel (D-New York) introduced a
banner piece of legislation to create greater governmental
transparency by making public government information avail-
able online. The bill, the Public Online Information Act
(POIA), directly confronts the problem that massive
quantities of government data and documentation are still
largely inaccessible because they are difficult to find
and difficult to read, despite being designated as
"public," according to Israel.
"Right now, our government will stamp something 'public'
and lock it away in a warehouse in Maryland. That's about
as accessible and transparent as a nuclear missile silo,"
said Representative Israel. "It's time for 'public' to
mean something different. My bill will require that all
executive branch agencies make their public documents
easily available online. People across the country - from
scholars to school children - should be able to see any
public government information from the convenience of
their computer."
POIA would mandate that executive branch agencies publish
all publicly available information online in a timely
fashion and in user-friendly formats within three years
of the bill being signed. The bill also creates a new
panel that brings together all branches of government to
create guidelines for information sharing and requires
each agency to establish a searchable catalog of all
disclosed public documents.
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Information that is required by law to be public, but
is not available online include: filings by high level
government officials of their personal financial interests;
reports of instances when executive branch travel is paid
for by third-parties, and not the government; reports
disclosing lobbying activities by government contractors
and grantees made in connection with winning a grant.
Israel, a member of the House Appropriations Committee
currently serving his fifth term as the representative of
New York's Second District in central Long Island, was
joined by Sunlight Foundation Co-Founder and Executive
Director Ellen Miller and Personal Democracy Forum Founder
Andrew Rasiej. Miller and Rasiej played a significant role
in developing POIA, following a 2009 Personal Democracy
Forum panel discussion where all three participated.
"POIA will not only make it easier for citizens to find
government information that belongs to them by simply
using the Internet, it will redefine what the term 'public
information' means for democracy and civic life in the
21st century,"Rasiej said. "By sponsoring this bill
Congressman Israel will challenge our government to
rethink and reorganize the way information is provided
to citizens and will lead to more transparency and
accountability."
"The Sunlight Foundation is proud to support the Public
Online Information Act, legislation that embraces a new
formula for transparency: public equals online,"said
Miller. "We commend Rep. Israel for his work to ensure
that government information will be available to everyone
within a few keystrokes on a computer."
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In addition to the Sunlight Foundation and the Personal
Democracy Forum, more than 25 organizations have called
for Congressional hearings on POIA, including the Center
for Media and Democracy, Center for Responsive Politics,
Federation of American Scientists and The Project on
Government Oversight.
As of this filing, the bill has no co-sponsors listed.
Not all governmental information will be available, how-
ever. The legislation includes a sunrise provision that
would mandate only newly created data be made available
after enactment, not previously released government inform-
ation. POIA would allow certain commonsense exceptions,
such as documents that fulfill national security specific-
ation.
The unveiling of POIA falls in the middle of Sunshine Week,
a national initiative primarily funded by John S. and James
L. Knight Foundation and led by the American Society of
News Editors, with participants consisting of journalists,
civic groups, nonprofits, libraries and individuals to
open dialogue about the importance of open government and
freedom of information. According to the event's web site,
"Sunshine Week seeks to enlighten and empower people to
play an active role in their government at all levels, and
to give them access to information that makes their lives
better and their communities stronger."
The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Over-
sight and Government Reform.
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