Blog Posts and Analysis / Open, Accountable Government

Sunshine Week Shines Surrounded by Secrecy’s Shadows

Government secrecy has become so pervasive and overgrown that journalists last week used newspapers, TV, and radio to focus public attention on the problem and promote open government as part of the first-ever national Sunshine Week.

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Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program

On Feb. 18, California State Sens. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) and Don Perata (D-East Bay) introduced SB 600, a biomonitoring bill entitled “The Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program.” The bill proposes establishing a statewide program to measure toxic chemical exposure levels of state residents by testing blood, tissue, and urine samples from Californian volunteers. If passed, California will be the first state in the nation to track and report on the presence of toxic chemicals in its citizens.

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Freedom of Information Legislation Moving Forward

The week of March 14 was an important week for open government, with the introduction of two pieces of legislation to improve the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — the Faster FOIA Act, and the Restore FOIA Act. Additionally, the Senate Judiciary Committee held the first oversight hearing on FOIA since 1992. Faster FOIA Act Moves to the Full Senate

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Senate Nixes New Right for Business to Restrict Information

The Senate rejected today a controversial amendment to a bankruptcy reform bill that would have given corporate special interests new incentives to refuse to provide information necessary for protecting the public.

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Justice Department Opposes D.C. Anti-Terrorist Measures

On Feb. 25, the U.S. Department of Justice joined the rail company CSX in litigation to derail a new Washington, DC, law which bans hazardous cargo shipments through the district. In a brief filed with the Federal District Court, DOJ asserts that hazardous chemical shipments are part of interstate commerce and therefore may only be regulated by federal law.

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Arizona Looks to Strengthen Freedom of Information

Arizona State Sen. Dean Martin (R-Phoenix) introduced two bills on Feb. 1 that would make it easier for Arizonans to access state-held information. The first bill, S.B. 1499, would create a state funded ’public access counselor’ to provide expert advice to citizens and state officials regarding requests for state-held information. The second bill, S.B. 1498, would make it illegal for state agencies to sue a person or group simply because they requested information.

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White House Cuts Entire Chapter from Economic Report

The National Security Council (NSC) had an entire chapter on Iraq’s economy deleted from the “Economic Report of the President” simply because it would interfere with the positive tone of the rest of the report. The report is produced annually by the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), a supposedly independent advisory entity. The unprecedented move is yet another example of the Bush administration’s willingness to manipulate expert and scientific information for political reasons.

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