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October 28, 2010 by
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exist in every state to ensure that citizens have access to public officials’ decision-making gatherings. But do these citizens also have a right to actively participate during these meetings?
That question would be up before the … if the Court would agree to hear it. But it wont.
From the :
“The in March rejected claims by two citizens, one now deceased, that Pensacola’s Community Maritime Park Associates had violated Florida’s open meetings law by refusing to let them speak.[...] The Supreme Court on Oct. 13 also declined to take up a similar appeal from a 1st District ruling in a case involving the Alachua City Commission.”
What do you think? My first impression is that citizen participation is the spirit behind open meeting laws, and that local governments should welcome citizens that want to be engaged. But should the law demand that governments mandate that public participation be allowed?
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April 15, 2010 by
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The James Madison Institute has come out with a new policy brief titled . The policy brief notes has a history of being at the forefront of the transparency movement, and that it should seize on the unique opportunity it has to maintain that reputation.
Past Florida transparency initiatives include posting a state “E-budget” in the late 1990′s, and providing and online, searchable database of government expenditures.
The brief also details the story of three transparency bills in Florida that failed to become law. One of those bills comes straight from Utopia: it would have required each local government entity and authority prepare a line-item report on revenue, revenue sources, and expenditures. While the bills didn’t pass, they did bring transparency to the forefront, thus setting the stage for the signing of , the Florida Transparency Act of 2009 in late May of that year. The law mandates the Governor’s office create a website and require each branch of government and government agency to disclose data, including disbursement data and budget amendments.
The briefing notes that one of the strong parts of this law is that its execution be overseen by the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee. Because the Committee has broad oversight of the implementation of the law, the James Madison Institute recommends it use that discretion to promote greater transparency through measures such as the following:
-The Committee should use its broad oversight role to recommend the incorporation of expenditures beyond those in the General Appropriations Act.
-Contextual information should be provided along with the data. The Committee can demand this.
-The project should keep citizens in mind and, as such, provide data in usable formats, such as XML.
The policy brief ends optimistically, stating that the first step was made 2009 towards Florida becoming a leader in state government transparency, and that 2010 can help ensure that process is complete.
For Sunshine Review Florida transparency grades and resources, check out the following links:
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February 15, 2010 by
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Fill out a survey, get a free iPod: this is a much better deal than you think. Most offers only offer the chance of potentially winning an iPod, but this one guarantees it. So why are people about this failsafe offer?
Well, it comes from a .
Polk County School district was to parents of children with disabilities who complete a 10-minute online survey. This was to come from the $350,000 of federal money from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) the school has set aside to be used specifically for programs for developmentally disabled students.
The Assistant Superintendent of Learning Support, Nancy Woolcock, had defended the now dead iPod giveaway program as a fair trade, giving parents an expensive gift in return for needed education data. But that argument convinced very few.
In this case, it was . Rep. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, expressed concern about the iPod purchase plan and asked school district officials to review it.
Representative Adam Putnam and Senator Kelli Stargel both showed concerned and urged the school board to review the idea. “During these difficult economic times, we must be certain that every dime is being spent efficiently and that this expenditure will actually be used by students or parents and teachers in helping to educate their students,” said Stargel, showing strong concern for correct disbursement of government money. Following suit, the Florida Department of Education on Wednesday instructed school district officials to . According to the FDOE, the funds used in the program should have flowed directly to students, not indirectly through parents.
This is a great example of how powerful public scrutiny of information can be. Once the information of the money being spent on iPods was out, public officials had to respond to it. And once it wqas clear that it was a poor use of taxpayer money, the school district needed to ameliorate the situation. Sunshine only helps taxpayers and the legitimacy of governments in the end.
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October 26, 2009 by
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For , we sent information requests to Florida school districts, asking for lobbying information. You can now find our prescription for more open government on the no prescription pharmacy: no prescription pharmacy For the whole story, click .
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September 3, 2009 by
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We’ve been busy at . During the summer months, we sent Freedom of Information requests to 27 with .
Many government entities have lobbyists on staff, and many more contract-out their lobbying needs. by state and local governments, public universities, transportation authorities, and public water utilities was in 2007. This number does not include lobbying at the state and local levels, legislative receptions and gifts, or membership in taxpayer-funded lobbying associations, such as the .
Data on those activities is , so we figured we would get the ball rolling by starting with Florida school districts. The most recent results , although we’re waiting to hear back from some stragglers, and you can also read a summary of to the FOIA requests.
To learn more about taxpayer-funded lobbying and our FOIA Back-to-School Project, click .
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July 9, 2009 by
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A couple of few interesting updates…
* Our friends at posted a strong admonishment to and state on the this morning. Burns recently discharged Senator Thayer Verschoor (R-Gilbert) and Senate Majority Whip Pamela Gorman (R-Anthem) from their leadership positions after the senators voted against the Governor’s ill-advised legislation to increase AZ’s sales tax. Americans for Tax Reform set up an citizens can visit to speak out against the tax hike.
* Bob Weeks over at points out that Sedgwick County, Kansas has placed its . Inquiring minds can sort data by function, category, fund, or vendor.
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* The Ocean State Policy Research Institute is tracking RI stimulus spending through their newest website, .
* Duval County from , which was the given in the state of , and the only county that had complete information about lobbyists on its Web site. Only one Florida county, , should be embarrassed by not having a web presence.
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June 10, 2008 by
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I ran across this editorial from while surfing the net today. Thank goodness there is at least one old media outlet crying out for election integrity and urging elected officials to ensure free and fair elections … or at least not allowing corpses to vote.
Here is the editorial from their website.
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to read the full story on the website.
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