cheapest viagra
May 20, 2010 by
Filed under ,
Last Tuesday, May 11, the Senate State Affairs Committee spent nearly three hours discussing how the emergence of social media has changed the way governmental bodies conduct public business.
These new tools can be used by elected officials to better communicate with constituents. But as Keith Elkins, a former Capitol reporter and now executive director of the , noted, elected officials could also use their cell phones, Blackberrys, laptops, and personal computers to communicate with one another in secrecy, outside of the state’s and the. He isn’t the first person to worry about this. Jason Stverak, president of the , worried earlier this month about the lack of archiving in new media: while public officials are more available to their constituents, the are also more available to each other through means that .
Senate State Affairs Committee chairman , R-, recommends the address how elected officials use the Internet to assure the public that no one is using the technology to or the Public Information Act. He also said public officials should not live in fear of being accused of violating the Public Meetings Act if they use electronic devices to communicate with others.
I wrote last week about the . Last year, four cities and some 20 local officials from across the state filed a federal lawsuit, supported by the Texas Municipal League, arguing that the penalties for violating the Act are harsh and unconstitutional. These penalties includ six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.
“We’ve got some good folks who are threatened with jail by innocent remarks or e-mails” said Mayor and League president Debra McCartt.
Of course, there are consequences for a law that isn’t strict. The improvements that went into effect this year have sought to remedy by setting up strict deadlines for compliance, and severe penalties for failing to do so.
It seems the answer is for Open Meetings Laws to explicitly state what is and isn’t acceptable, and to make clear what the exemptions to the law are. These laws need to address changing technology. It isn’t fair to officials for them to be unclear about whether their Tweet breaks the law, and it isn’t fair to citizens to be unable to access a Tweet relating to public business. Lastly, breaking the law needs to come with penalties that are strict enough to induce compliance.
Join us tomorrow on Twitter from 2-3 Eastern Standard Time to talk about Texas Open Meetings Law and open meetings laws in your state. Use hashtag #FOIAchat to talk to other transparency advocates about questions you may have or your experiences with open meetings. (If you can’t make it, our discussions are always .) For a topic schedule, look .
cheapest viagra
March 4, 2010 by
Filed under ,
loves data, that nitty-gritty information that can really break down a topic, but one thing is can’t do is discuss what’s going on with people like cheapest viagra in real time.
Luckily, Twitter is there to back us up. This Friday w’ere going to be starting FOIAchat Fridays, where we can sit down for an hour or so and hear what you’re thoughts, experiences or hopes are for government transparency.
Please joins us, and invite others, tomorrow for our first FOIAchat Friday.
- cheapest viagra March 5th
- cheapest viagra 1:00 pm CST – 2:00 pm CST
- cheapest viagra #FOIAchat
- cheapest viagra Changes to FOIA laws
We’re especially curious to hear your thoughts on what’s going on with. It was opened up in late 2009, but already the Illinois Legislature has proposed that would restrict the FOIA law, including passing SB 315 which restricted access to public employee performance evaluations.
So join us tomorrow to let us know your thoughts on these and other FOIA developments.
cheapest viagra
January 23, 2009 by
Filed under
If you are interested in getting real-time information on state budgets, taxes, and other fiscal issues, (and who’s not?) check out the . If you want to participate, get an account at Twitter.com and just include “#statebooks” in your tweet.
Oh, and if you want to check up on what I’m doing, go .