Open, Accountable Government

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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more news

Leaders and Laggards in Agency Open Government Webpages

Complying with requirements of the Open Government Directive (OGD), federal agencies launched transparency pages on their websites Feb. 6. The content and functionality of the pages varied from non-compliant to barely compliant to above and beyond expectations. OMB Watch conducted an assessment of the webpages between Feb. 15 and 22, based on factors that make for sound accountability and transparency.

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Financial Industry on the Mend, Decline

Feb 23, 2010 by Craig Jennings

That these two headlines appear on the Wall Street Journal's homepage on the same day has me scratching my head.

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SEC Guidance Addresses Disclosure of Climate Change Impacts

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took a significant step last month toward expanding the scope and quality of corporate disclosures as they pertain to the environment. On Jan. 27, the SEC voted to provide guidance "clarify[ing] what publicly-traded companies need to disclose to investors in terms of climate-related 'material' effects on business operations, whether from new emissions management policies, the physical impacts of changing weather or business opportunities associated with the growing clean energy economy."

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Public Speaks on Ideas to Open Up Environmental Agencies

Agencies, including those dealing with environmental and public health issues, are seeking ideas on how to improve transparency, public participation, collaboration, and innovation, and the agencies are receiving numerous suggestions. The challenge for individual agencies is to shape the diverse ideas into the strategies and goals that will comprise their Open Government Plans.

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Patchwork Improvements Continue for E-Rulemaking

Several federal government websites have recently incorporated changes that better highlight regulatory issues and expand online access to rulemaking information. However, the changes appear independent of one another, not parts of a conscious effort by the Obama administration to transform the government's beleaguered e-rulemaking systems.

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FCC Seeks Public Input on the Future of Media

Feb 23, 2010 by Roger Strother*

As the role of the Internet in daily life expands rapidly, and with the role of newspapers and traditional journalism in steep decline, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is soliciting public input on possible changes to federal policy. These policy changes would, hopefully, ensure that media remains strong enough to inform the public, protect consumers, and hold our leaders accountable.

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Commentary: Celebrating One of the Recovery Act's Legacies: Transparency

Feb. 17 marked the one-year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly called the Recovery Act. Both political parties celebrated the occasion with partisan attacks. Democrats heralded the act as having saved the nation's economy, while Republicans savaged it for being an expensive government program with little to show by way of jobs. While the two parties can argue over how effective the act actually has been, both can agree on one thing: the lasting legacy of the Recovery Act’s transparency provisions.

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Oregon Ballot Initiatives Could Show Path Forward in Federal Tax Debate

Feb 18, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*

In the midst of the media's recent myopic focus on the election of Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), the fourth estate has largely overlooked the fact that Oregon voters approved measures at the ballot box in January to increase taxes on wealthy citizens and corporations to help bring the state back into fiscal balance. Earlier this week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released a short paper on the implications those votes could have in Congress on the debate over the expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts.

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Recovery Act More Successful than You Think

Feb 17, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*

With the arrival of the one-year anniversary of the Recovery Act, experts and pundits alike are reviewing how the Obama administration's stimulus effort has stacked up thus far. Despite what some in Congress say and in contrast to how the public generally feels, it turns out the Recovery Act has worked pretty well and has been quite a successful piece of public policy.

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Administration Releases Framework for Spending Data Quality

Feb 15, 2010 by Roger Strother*

On Friday, the White House met another Open Government Directive deadline by issuing a framework for federal spending data quality. The framework requires that agencies submit plans by April 14 for improving quality of their spending data, implementing internal controls and process changes.

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