Author Archives: James A Jacobs

Rep. Markey Films from the Chair's Seat Thanks to the OpenHouse Project for this description: Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) sought to make history Thursday by videotaping a congressional hearing from his own perspective. At the outset of the hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, which he chairs,Markey produced a video camera and said he would produce the first video "of a committee hearing from the chairman's perspective." The interlude produced great laughter and Markey proceeded to make the witness panel, the audience and the press wave to him. More here: Markey records video from chairman’s perspective, By Klaus Marre, The Hill, May 10, 2007. Continue reading →

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Two new reports call for open access to government research. A short story about these reports of The Energy Department and the Centers for Disease Control is available:

• Two U.S. Government reports call for public access to agency-funded research, The Alliance for Taxpayer Access, May 3, 2007

The CDC report The DOE Report Continue reading →

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Two more op-eds about the Open House Project and report are now available:

• No light in basement, by Tim La Pira, The Hill, May 08, 2007.
• New report describes practical steps to open the House, by Gabriela Schneider and John Wonderlich. Commentary, The Examiner, May 8, 2007.

Schneider and Wonderlich say "Reforms such as creating a publicly accessible database of all bill status and summary information in a structured, non-proprietary format such as XML will help Congress maximize its ability to implement promised transparency and will also boost the capacity for meaningful public oversight and awareness of the legislative process." La Pira writes about Congressional financial reporting.

To its credit, the House already requires lobbyists to file disclosure reports electronically. But, remarkably, the House has not authorized the clerk to make those electronic reports available to the public electronically. Even the Senate, which has never been known for being on the cutting edge of technology, makes lobbying disclosure reports available on the Internet -- but only as digital images, not for easy downloading. Both chambers' travel and financial disclosure reports can still be found only in paper or digital-image format.

For more about the report, see Open House Project Report Released and for a link to the first Op-Ed, see The OpenHouse Project Op-Eds at The Hill Continue reading →

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The Open House Project released its report today for a series of technological reforms that would increase transparency and public access to the work and members of the U.S. House of Representatives.

• Congressional Information & the Internet The OpenHouse Project May 8, 2007

Congress can expand the impact and functioning of the full range of its work by recognizing the transformative power of simple technological reforms that can create an open, public and fully transparent institution. This in turn can create a civically empowered and meaningfully aware public and enable a connection between constituents and legislators that can deepen the national discourse. To address the coming opportunities and challenges of an increasingly connected political environment, Congress should engage in an ongoing discourse with the public and commit to creating a truly transparent legislature. The Open House Project—a collaborative online project of the Sunlight Foundation—has identified the following as providing opportunities for reform:

• Legislation Database—publish legislative data in structured formats
• Preserving Congressional Information—protect congressional information through archiving and distribution
• Congressional Committees—recognize committees as a public resource by making committee information available online
• Congressional Research Service—share non-partisan research beyond Congress
• Member Web-Use Restrictions—permit members to take full advantage of internet resources
• Citizen Journalism Access—grant House access to non-traditional journalists
• The Office of the Clerk of the House—serve as a source for digital disclosure information
• The Congressional Record—maintain the veracity of a historical document
• Congressional Video—create open video access to House proceedings
• Coordinating Web Standards—commit to technology reform as an administrative priority

FGI participated in this project and contributed to the report. Continue reading →

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