The public comment period for this legislation has now ended.

Transparency In Government Act 2008 (Revised) ( 7 bill comments | 10 section comments) subscribe to the comments feed

  1. TITLE I - Access to Information About Members of Congress

    1. Sec. 101. Greater disclosure and electronic filing of personal financial information. (3 comments)
    2. Sec. 102. Electronic filing of and timely public access to official travel reports.
    3. Sec. 103. Electronic filing of and timely public access to gift reports.
    4. Sec. 104. Enhancing public access to information about earmarks. (3 comments)
    5. Sec. 105. Electronic Filing of Senate campaign finance disclosure reports.
    6. Sec. 106. Monthly Filing of FECA reports.
    7. Sec. 107. Internet Posting of Quarterly Statements of Disbursements of House of Representatives and Senate.

  2. TITLE II - Enhancing Public Access to the Work of Congressional Committees, Legislative Inforation, and Votes

    1. Sec. 201. Posting of Committee recorded votes online in a timely manner.
    2. Sec. 202. Posting congressional committee schedules online in a timely manner.
    3. Sec. 203. Posting of other committee information.
    4. Sec. 204. Full disclosure of non-emergency legislation online 72 hours before a vote.
    5. Sec. 205. Full disclosure of conference reports, identification of new material in conference reports and openness in conference committee deliberations.
    6. Sec. 206. Electronic access to votes. (1 comment)
    7. Sec. 207. Creation of a legislative database.
    8. Sec. 208. Appropriation of sums to preserve congressional information.

  3. TITLE III - Enhancing Public Access to Congressional Research Service Information

    1. Sec. 301. Availability of certain Congressional Research Service Information. (1 comment)
    2. Sec. 302. Method of access.
    3. Sec. 303. Implementation.
    4. Sec. 304. GAO Study.

  4. TITLE IV - Improving Lobbyist Reporting and Disclosure of Information

    1. Sec. 401. Monthly filing of Lobbying Disclosure Reports.
    2. Sec. 402. Identification of officials with whom lobbying contacts are made.
    3. Sec. 403. Disclosure of support or opposition to legislation and earmark requests.
    4. Sec. 404. Monthly reports on certain contributions.
    5. Sec. 405. Reporting of bundled contributions made by persons other than registered lobbyists. (1 comment)
    6. Sec. 406. Reporting of lobbying activities by all persons who bundle contributions.
    7. Sec. 407. Expansion of lobbying activities to be reported where there is coordination with registered lobbyists.
    8. Sec. 408. Disclosure of paid advertising activities by lobbyists.

  5. TITLE V - Transparency In Federal Contracting

    1. Sec. 501. Improving Application Programming Interface and Web Site Data Elements.
    2. Sec. 502. Increased Disclosure of Lobbying Contacts by Federal Contractors
    3. Sec. 503. Improving Data Quality.
    4. Sec. 504. Recipient Performance Transparency.

  6. TITLE VI - Executive Branch Transparency

    1. Sec. 601. Reporting requirements and online disclosure relating to significant contacts.
    2. Sec. 602. Requirement for disclosure of Federal sponsorship of all Federal advertising or other communications.
    3. Sec. 603. Eliminating the use of pseudo-classifications to withhold public information.
    4. Sec. 604. Procedures for consideration of claims of constitutionally based privilege against disclosure.
    5. Sec. 605. Executive Order of November 1, 2001 shall have no force or effect.
    6. Sec. 606. Prohibition on Secret Advisory Committees

  7. TITLE VII - Strengthening FOIA

    1. Sec. 701. Digital access to completed FOIA responses. (1 comment)
    2. Sec. 702. Limitations on extensions for agency response.
    3. Sec. 703. Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays.

  8. TITLE VIII - Increasing Access to Information About Work of Inspectors General

    1. Sec. 801. Timely access to reports and audits on Web sites of Offices of Inspectors General.

  9. TITLE IX - Enforcement

    1. Sec. 901. GAO Audits.

General Comments on Transparency In Government Act 2008 (Revised)

  • The bill is missing the money. We need to see how the money is spent. The money for the 'emergency sustainable budgets' needs to be accounted. Yes, every dollar and all the work done. This is more important as the 'emergencies' were five year budgets and are going on their second five years. Fifty billion dollars over five years is allot of money. The budgets are also seen as entitlements and debt for America. They were also doubled and tripled by Congress, putting us in a huge debt over a long period of time. We also need to account for Americans in these budgets. For example, is the money going to the budget from another agency farming out it's workers to the program? Why isn't the money going to NGOs instead of government agencies who are transferring budgets? Are these NGOs American? How many Americans are hired for the budgets?

    posted by Roland, July 31, 2008

  • This bill is a great start. I also want to include some money issues in the bill. For example, I've always wanted a specific"who benefits" section added to committee and conference reports that was more explicit than the current CBO economic analysis --i.e. how many folks are benefited, where they are located, and whether folks needed any special pre-existing requirements or attributes to benefit from a piece of legislation. This kind of provision would be helpful in understanding the true impact of legislation and flushing out special interest provisions that aid few people.

    posted by Ruth Fleischer, Adjunct Professor, University of, August 1, 2008

  • I like the idea of going directly to a country source for legislation feedback, but that usually goes through a government employee and they end up justifying things like five year budgets. I think I've defined 'Operations Research.' The decided to justify the PEPFAR/Global AIDs the second five years of the 'sustainable emergency budgets.' They had to be asked allot. http://blogs.cgdev.org/globalhealth/2...

    posted by Roland, August 8, 2008

  • One of the ways we get taken is in Government Specifications. We need to have a control over Specifications, example while I was in the Army a contract came open for butchers aprons. The reasonable specifications would be unbleached cotton duck material with neck loop and strap tie at waist. there then would have been three bidders and the lowest bid would have been chosen. But there was an added specification that the aprons be sewn with orange thread! This had nothing to do with the servicability of the apron, it just made sure that the RIGHT company got the contract at the highest price. Specifications should only relate to the servicability of the item only uniforms or the like should have color spefications. Unless there is a special need items like (silk labels) should not be allowed in specifications.

    posted by Msg John Wirts, U.S.A. Ret, August 17, 2008

  • Regulation of financial markets must be transparent to everybody. Government must call for help from everybody who can help. I have told my federal legislators (Larry Craig, Mike Crapo, and Mike Simpson) to do this. We all must tell our federal legislators to do this.

    posted by Calvin Leman (Candidate Idaho Representative), September 24, 2008

  • I believe that transparency in the investment bank and hedge funds clientele list would answer many questions. The trillion dollar a year market in illegal drugs is laundered through these institutions, also illegal weapon trade, terrorists and others.

    posted by Vicki V., September 27, 2008

  • We should be able to find any information on each Congress person relevant to their role as Senator or Representative. For example, their expenditures for meetings and travel, meals, sources of income, etc. We should also be able to see how the $700M bailout is being spent...a spreadsheet of who is getting any money and what amount.

    posted by Anonymous, November 5, 2008
The Sunlight Foundation supports, develops and deploys new Internet technologies to make information about Congress and the federal government more accessible to the American people. Through its projects and grant-making, Sunlight serves as a catalyst to create greater political transparency and to foster more openness and accountability in government. This Site may contain links to Internet sites that are not operated by Sunlight Foundation. These links are provided as a service and do not imply any endorsement of the activities or content of these sites, nor any association with their operators. Sunlight Foundation does not control these Internet sites and is not responsible for their content, security, or privacy practices. We urge you to review the privacy policy posted on web sites you visit before using the site or providing personal information.