dontgo, CRP, NextGov, FJC

[John Wonderlich]

The coverage continues of the Republican House Members on the House floor, more easily trackable now through dontgo.us.

CRP just noted the implementation of the financial disclosure database by the Clerk of the House, as required by the HLOGA (here's the White House's press release ).  Enhancing public access to disclosure information filed with the Clerk of the House is among the Open House Project's main reform proposals, so I'm particularly interested in the requirements' shortfalls and successes.  Vague or poorly requirements can be counterproductive, so stories of unclear requirements or similar confusion are relevant to the design of future disclosure requirements and processes.  Here's my lobbying disclosure report.

NextGov covered a recent report on government IT risk management, making points complementary to CTG's framework for government IT analysis.

Looks like Obama is on Scribd, allowing the campaign to post embeddable documents and syndicate.  This is interesting to me as a big fan of embeddable pdfs, (see, for example, Carl Malamud's GAO docs scribd group ) though I still prefer the UI at Issuu. 

In the space unoccupied by the e-gov act of 2002, and the work of the Federal Judicial Center, a variety of free legal information sites are filling the void left by official judicial information provision.  Here's the relevant section of the report fro the original e-gov act (H.Rept 107-787).  (This is on my mind because I'm at the IGOTF conference at Chicago, attending the open legal access working group.)

SEC. 205. FEDERAL COURTS.

  (a) Individual Court Websites.--The Chief Justice of the United 
States, the chief judge of each circuit and district, and the chief 

bankruptcy judge of each district shall establish with respect to the 
Supreme Court or the respective court of appeals, district, or 
bankruptcy court of a district, a website that contains the following 

information or links to websites with the following information:
          (1) Location and contact information for the courthouse, 
        including the telephone numbers and contact names for the 

        clerk's office and justices' or judges' chambers.
          (2) Local rules and standing or general orders of the court.
          (3) Individual rules, if in existence, of each justice or 

        judge in that court.
          (4) Access to docket information for each case.
          (5) Access to the substance of all written opinions issued by 
        the court, regardless of whether such opinions are to be 

        published in the official court reporter, in a text searchable 
        format.
          (6) Access to all documents filed with the courthouse in 
        electronic form, described under subsection (c).

          (7) Any other information (including forms in a format that 
        can be downloaded) that the court determines useful to the 
        public.
  (b) Maintenance of Data Online.--

          (1) Update of information.--The information and rules on each 
        website shall be updated regularly and kept reasonably current.
          (2) Closed cases.--Electronic files and docket information 

        for cases closed for more than 1 year are not required to be 
        made available online, except all written opinions with a date 
        of issuance after the effective date of this section shall 

        remain available online.
  (c) Electronic Filings.--
          (1) In general.--Except as provided under paragraph (2), each 
        court shall make any document that is filed electronically 

        publicly available online. A court may convert any document 
        that is filed in paper form to electronic form. To the extent 
        such conversions are made, all such electronic versions of the 

        document shall be made available online.
          (2) Exceptions.--Documents that are filed that are not 
        otherwise available to the public, such as documents filed 

        under seal, shall not be made available online.
          (3) Privacy and security concerns.--The Judicial Conference 
        of the United States may promulgate rules under this subsection 

        to protect important privacy and security concerns.
  (d) Dockets With Links to Documents.--The Judicial Conference of the 
United States shall explore the feasibility of technology to post 

online dockets with links allowing all filings, decisions, and rulings 
in each case to be obtained from the docket sheet of that case.
  (e) Cost of Providing Electronic Docketing Information.--Section 

303(a) of the Judiciary Appropriations Act, 1992 (28 U.S.C. 1913 note) 
is amended in the first sentence by striking ``shall hereafter'' and 
inserting ``may, only to the extent necessary,''.

  (f) Time Requirements.--Not later than 2 years after the effective 
date of this title, the websites under subsection (a) shall be 
established, except that access to documents filed in electronic form 

shall be established not later than 4 years after that effective date.
  (g) Deferral.--
          (1) In general.--
                  (A) Election.--
                          (i) Notification.--The Chief Justice of the 

                        United States, a chief judge, or chief 
                        bankruptcy judge may submit a notification to 
                        the Administrative Office of the United States 

                        Courts to defer compliance with any requirement 
                        of this section with respect to the Supreme 
                        Court, a court of appeals, district, or the 

                        bankruptcy court of a district.
                          (ii) Contents.--A notification submitted 
                        under this subparagraph shall state--

                                  (I) the reasons for the deferral; and
                                  (II) the online methods, if any, or 
                                any alternative methods, such court or 

                                district is using to provide greater 
                                public access to information.
                  (B) Exception.--To the extent that the Supreme Court, 

                a court of appeals, district, or bankruptcy court of a 
                district maintains a website under subsection (a), the 
                Supreme Court or that court of appeals or district 

                shall comply with subsection (b)(1).
          (2) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the effective date 
        of this title, and every year thereafter, the Judicial 

        Conference of the United States shall submit a report to the 
        Committees on Governmental Affairs and the Judiciary of the 
        Senate and the Committees on Government Reform and the 

        Judiciary of the House of Representatives that--
                  (A) contains all notifications submitted to the 
                Administrative Office of the United States Courts under 

                this subsection; and
                  (B) summarizes and evaluates all notifications.