Sunlight Foundation

Sunlight's policy team prepares testimony, briefings, and presentations that elucidate our policy proposals.

• Federal

  Our federal level advocacy is focused on a number of important issues ranging from open data, to campaign finance disclosure and lobbying reform. We push for changes in Congress and the executive branch by proposing policy changes, conducting research and oversight activities, providing comments, meeting with staff and testifying at hearings. For more information on this agenda, see the Federal Policy page.

• International

  At the global level, our goal is to engage open government activists and provide them resources to increase government transparency and accountability in their countries. We do so by expanding consensus on international norms for transparency; strengthening national-level non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as advocates for local change; and serving as a hub in the network of international transparency practitioners. For more information on this agenda, see our International Policy page.

• State and Local

  The state and local team actively monitors and supports existing open data and accountability initiatives, researches case studies, supports best practices and proposes new policies. We're especially interested in seeing how open data can contribute to a better understanding of the money in politics, improved knowledge of government services and transactions, and improved access to government processes and decision-makers for all citizens. For more information on this agenda, see our State and Local Policy page.

• Public Testimony Submitted To The Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee

  Policy Counsel Daniel Schuman submitted comments to the Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch on budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2014.

• Public Testimony Submitted to the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee

  Policy Counsel Daniel Schuman submitted comments to the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch on budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2014.

  He outlined a number of areas for the committee to consider, urging them to improve public access to legislative data, fully fund the Office of Congressional Ethics, publish Congressional Research Service reports publicly online, publish House Expenditure Reports online in a data-friendly format, publish House support office and support agency reports online, publish the Constitution Annotated online, restore funding for committee and personal office staff and legislative support agencies, and more.

• Daniel Schuman Testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

  On March 13, 2013 Daniel Schuman testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He outlined the state of transparency in the Federal government and legislature and identified specific actions that could lead to greater openness.

  He urged Congress to pass several important pieces of legislation including the DATA Act, the Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act, the Presidential Library Donation Reform Act, and amendments to the Federal Advisory Committee Act. He also suggested that the committee should explore legislation relating to FOIA, the Open Government Directive, access to Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinions, and more.

• Getting Past Groundhog Day: Auditing the Government's Open Data Policy

  A talk delivered at an American Council for Technology conference on February 14, 2013, on the importance of creating a government-wide policy to audit and index the information it holds.

  Available in PDF here.

  When it comes to Open Data Policies, today is Groundhog Day. We've come a long way since the Paperwork Reduction Act, first passed in 1980, which called on each agency to ensure that the public has timely and equitable access to the agency's public information; and things have changed since OMB's Circular A-130, first issued in 1985, which calls for the protection of the public's right of access to government information. We now have websites, bulk downloads, APIs, and a shiny new Digital Government Strategy. But when it comes to how agencies share access to the information they hold, we're barely halfway through the movie.

• Senate Rules Changes: Sunlight's Proposals for the 113th Congress

  The United States Senate is a creature of its rules. Through its standing rules, laws and resolutions, precedents, and the consent of its members, the upper chamber carefully controls how legislation can be promulgated and debate can take place.

  Unlike the House of Representatives, which must vote on its rules every Congress, the Senate rarely reconsiders its standing rules in their entirety. An opportunity may arise, however, with the current debate over changing how the filibuster works. Here are Sunlight's major recommendations for updating the Senate's rules.

• Letter to Leadership on Fiscal Cliff Negotiation Transparency

  The Sunlight Foundation, along with the Institute for Policy Innovation, OpenTheGovernment.org, Public Citizen and U.S. Public Interest Research Groups sent a letter to President Obama, Senator Reid, Senator McConnell, Representative Boehner and Representative Pelosi urging them to ensure that a minimal standard of transparency apply to the fiscal cliff negotiations.

• House Rules Changes: Sunlight's Proposals for the 113th Congress

  Congress runs on rules. With the upcoming changeover from the 112th to the 113th Congress, the House of Representatives will adopt new regulations that innervate every aspect of legislative life. The last time it did this, in 2010, the House set the stage for greater openness and transparency in the lower chamber.  At that time, Sunlight issued a series of recommendations, some of which were adopted. The House of Representatives made significant progress toward ensuring the people's house belongs to the people, from the new transparency portal docs.house.gov to expanded video coverage of House proceedings to retaining the Office of Congressional Ethics.

  In advance of the 113th Congress, we're issuing an updated set of transparency recommendations, each of which would mark a significant step towards increased transparency.