Lieberman E-Government Bill Promotes Greater Openness and Accountability

Senator Joseph Lieberman unveiled his E-Government bill on May 1. The 90-page bill is the most comprehensive piece of legislation on e-government to date and the only piece of legislation that focuses on the government's management of its information for access and accountability. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Patrice McDermott, 202-234-8494 OMB Watch commends Sen. Joseph Lieberman on the introduction of "The E-Government Act of 2001" and offers support for this bill. Congress should act quickly to pass it. "While there has been much discussion about e-government, little has been done to build a coordinated approach to strengthening public access to government information, improving interaction with our agencies, and ensuring a more transparent government," said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch. "The Lieberman bill provides a thoughtful consideration of what the federal government needs to do to develop that coordination and to harness the Internet to make government more open and accountable." In fact, this bill itself was developed through the use of e-government. Through a special Governmental Affairs Committee web site, the public was able to identify issues, concerns, and recommendations for improving e-government, which Sen. Lieberman used in drafting the legislation. "The public expects ever better and more user-friendly access to its government, but this has not been fully possible because much of the infrastructure has not been universally in place," Patrice McDermott, senior policy analyst at OMB Watch, said. "This legislation sets up a framework and a process for moving the executive branch forward in this and other areas." One of the key components of the bill is the section on "Accessibility, Usability, and Preservation of Government Information." This section "creates an open and consultative process," said McDermott, noting that it "lays the groundwork for both government and the public to know what information the government creates and collects." It will also begin the process of creating standards and guidelines for permanent public accessibility of government information created and disseminated digitally. "We are also pleased to see an Integrated Reporting Feasibility Study and pilot projects included in the bill," Bass said. The Integrated Reporting Program is designed to reduce much of the duplication required in filing separate reports to regulatory agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department. Such integrated reporting could "also make it easier for the public to track the activities of companies and not just individual sites" across multiple reporting systems, Bass noted. Sen. Lieberman also deserves praise for elevating the issue of information management and information policy with this bill. Currently, the coordination and oversight responsibilities for the management of government information fall within the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at OMB. For all of OIRA's existence, the "I" has generally been subsumed and overwhelmed by the "R." "This bill would give information—which is central to government in all of its interactions with contemporary society—the visibility and attention it requires," McDermott said. Click here for further analysis of the bill.
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