RE: 2016 Open Government Guidance
Zarek, Corinna J. EOP/OSTP
Hi there,
I’m writing with a friendly reminder about next week’s Open Government Plan consultation session and request for final RSVPs for the meeting (details below).
The following people are confirmed to attend in person:
Susan Harley, Public Citizen – lightning talk
Eryn Schornick, Global Witness
Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists – lightning talk
Emily Berman, Union of Concerned Scientists
Alex Howard, Sunlight Foundation – lightning talk
Stephen Buckley, International Association for Public Participation – lightning talk
Shanna Devine, Government Accountability Project – lightning talk
Jesse Franzblau, OpentheGovernment.org – lightning talk
Emily Manna, OpentheGovernment.org
We are still collecting last-minute RSVPs from government colleagues as well, but the following agencies have confirmed attendance:
CEQ
Commerce
DHS
DOJ
FTC
GSA
NARA
NASA
NSF
ODNI
OSTP
Peace Corps
State
USTR
We will also have a dial-in option – please RSVP to me directly if you would like to call in and I will share that information later this week.
Thanks!
Cori
From: Zarek, Corinna J. EOP/OSTP
Sent: Thursday, August 4, 2016 3:13 PM
To: 'us-open-g...@googlegroups.com' <us-open-g...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: 2016 Open Government Guidance
Hi again!
Now that we have the updated Open Government Plan Guidance for 2016, we are rescheduling the Civil Society Stakeholder Session that was originally planned for earlier in the spring.
MEETING
This meeting will be held in the new Innovation Hub at the National Archives on August 23 at 1 p.m. (during our regularly scheduled Interagency Open Government Working Group meeting). Because the Innovation Hub is located on the Pennsylvania Ave side of the National Archives, we will need to provide a list to the security team in advance of the meeting. Please be sure to RSVP to me if you plan to come. I will follow up with building entry information for those who RSVP to join in person and dial-in information for those who can only join by phone.
AGENDA
· Overview of the guidance
· Lightning talks from civil society representatives
· Lightning talks from agency representatives
· Open discussion
LIGHTNING TALKS
These talks should be 2-3 minutes and should highlight specific initiatives or issues that you or your organization recommend that agencies address in their 2016 plans. Please be specific and offer examples of where a particular initiative has been done well or how it could be done well. Please let me if you would like to give a lightning talk when you RSVP.
Thanks, everyone! Looking forward to this fun event!
Cori + the Open Gov team
From: Zarek, Corinna J. EOP/OSTP
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2016 4:36 PM
To: 'us-open-g...@googlegroups.com' <us-open-g...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: 2016 Open Government Guidance
Hello, colleagues!
I wanted to share that the 2016 guidance for agency Open Government Plans was published today by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The guidance is available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2016/m-16-16.pdf
It was rolled out in a blog post at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/07/14/agencies-continue-deliver-day-one-commitment-open-government
We look forward to your input as agencies continue to advance open government!
Cori
Agencies continue to deliver on day-one commitment to open government
JULY 14, 2016 AT 4:20 PM ET BY CORI ZAREK
Summary:
Agencies are updating their Open Government Plans for 2016 and the Administration is capturing the positive impacts of open government efforts.
When President Obama began this Administration with an unprecedented showing of support for building a more open and transparent government, open government advocates cheered this news. It catalyzed a movement that—more than seven years later—continues to grow stronger.
Open government is nothing new—President James Madison was championing the public’s right to information more than 200 years ago. And the United States just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on July 4 with President Obama signing FOIA amendments into law and announcing new efforts to ensure transparency and openness in government the week before.
But still, the January 20, 2009 Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government gave new life to the open government movement, and has been a conduit to the agencies and civil society organizations working to advance these efforts. That memo led to the December 2009 Open Government Directive which organized agencies to begin concerted efforts toward greater transparency through biennial Open Government Plans, open data work, and open innovation activities like prizes and challenges.
As agencies prepare to update their plans for 2016, the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Science and Technology Policy are sharing new guidance today to encourage agencies to make this fourth round of plans the most expansive and strongest yet. The guidance is updated to include efforts that are new since 2014, such as implementation of the Digital Accountability and Transparency (DATA) Act, and work that has become more robust in the last couple of years, including access to scientific data and publications.
Agencies have been working hard to deliver against the directive to build a more transparent, participatory, and collaborative government. Just last month, the Internal Revenue Service began making available the electronically filed public tax data from tax-exempt organizations, allowing the public to better see information about the mission, programs, and finances of nonprofit and charitable organizations. And in an effort to engage in more open and participatory policymaking, the Office of Management and Budget is currently working through more than 2,000 comments from the public on a draft Federal Source Code Policy, which itself will be a first-of-its-kind effort and serves as a model for public participation as more government agencies release draft policies for open, widespread public comment.
Government teams are working to capture these great examples as we look back over the past seven-plus years of work that the open government community of practice has engaged in. With about 100 Federal departments and agencies and hundreds of civil society groups, academics, students, industry leaders, and members of the public pushing this work forward, we all have a lot to be proud of.
If you have open government success stories we should be tracking, share your suggestions through the Open Government discussion group, via email to ope...@ostp.eop.gov, or tweet them and tag @OpenGov. And if you have ideas that agencies should include in their Open Government Plans, feel free to contact agencies directly or share them through these same avenues.
There is, of course, more ground to cover and we would love to hear your suggestions of what else can be done. We look forward to continuing to build a more open and transparent government together.
Cori Zarek is a Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Zarek, Corinna J. EOP/OSTP
Hi again,
We are looking forward to tomorrow’s Open Government Plan consultation session at the National Archives – we should have a full house of agency and civil society attendees.
We will meet in the National Archives Innovation Hub at 1 p.m. The entrance is through the 700 Pennsylvania Avenue entrance – please note this is a different entrance than we typically use for our meetings (i.e., do NOT use the Constitution Ave entrance).
Below is an updated agenda as well as the list of agencies that will be represented and the civil society colleagues confirmed to attend in person (please note we are still missing slides for some lightning talks – please send ASAP!).
Agenda
· Welcome and overview of the guidance (10 minutes)
· Lightning talks from civil society representatives (20 minutes)
· Lightning talks from agency representatives (30 minutes)
· Open discussion (30 minutes)
Confirmed Agency Representatives
CEQ
Commerce
DHS
DOJ
DOT
EPA
FTC
GSA
IMLS
NARA
NASA
NSF
ODNI
OMB
OSTP
Peace Corps
Social Security
State
USTR
Confirmed Civil Society Attendees
Susan Harley, Public Citizen – lightning talk (still need slides)
Eryn Schornick, Global Witness
Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists – lightning talk (still need slides)
Emily Berman, Union of Concerned Scientists
Alex Howard, Sunlight Foundation – lightning talk (still need slides)
Stephen Buckley, International Association for Public Participation – lightning talk (still need slides)
Shanna Devine, Government Accountability Project – lightning talk
Jesse Franzblau, OpentheGovernment.org – lightning talk
Emily Manna, Government Accountability Project
Sean Moulton, Project on Government Oversight – lightning talk (still need slides)
Hudson Hollister, Data Coalition – lightning talk
Christian Hoehner, Data Coalition
Thomas Susman, American Bar Association
A few colleagues also requested the dial-in information – we will share that with you today.
Thanks, all – see you tomorrow!
Stephen Buckley
I was one of those who gave a "lightning talk" last month at the OpenGov "consultation session" (see below) to advise federal agency reps concerning revision of their agency's OpenGov Plans which, according to OMB, are due by next Thursday (9/15/16).
Due to the time limit (2 minutes) for each speaker at that event, I was not able to raise a final concern related to "Public Participation/Engagement" and, so, I will raise it here and now, so that an agency can make a final tweak to its updated OpenGov Plan.
"Transparency" is to FOIA, as "Participation & Collaboration" is to ... NEPA.
If one were to review all that's been said and done, over the past 7 years, towards implementing the President's Open Government program (more "Transparent, Participatory and Collaborative"), it would be easy to assume that it is all based, primarily, on one federal law: FOIA (Freedom of Information Act of 1966). But that is not true.
When it comes to public's Participation & Collaboration in the decision-making of federal agencies, the primary federal law is NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act of 1969).
And, just as each federal agency has its own "FOIA office" for responding to FOIA requests, for decades, each one has also had its own "NEPA office" for ensuring compliance with the NEPA regulations issued by the White House under the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).
The basic steps for "Public Involvement", as required of federal agencies by CEQ's regulations, can be found at 40 CFR 1506.6. And, if you think that NEPA is only about the "environmental" impacts of federal projects, see CEQ's legal definition of "Effects" at 40 CFR 1508.8.
Therefore, I suggest that each federal agency, in responding to the White House's recent "recommendations" on OpenGov Plans ( OMB Memorandum M-16-16 of July 14, 2016), should address the section on "Public Participation" (on page 6) by providing the same sort of information about its NEPA office that it will be publicizing about its FOIA office (see page 5).
That information should allow citizens to reasonably determine whether a federal activity is legally complying with FOIA and NEPA and, if not, then how and who to properly report cases of non-compliance (e.g., to OpenGov rep, NEPA office, CEQ, and/or Inspector-General).
Background: As a U.S. government employee with HQ experience at the NEPA offices at five federal agencies, I frequently saw non-compliance with the "Public Involvement" legally required by federal regulations, with citizens under-informed of their legal right to "have a say" in the decision-making for federally-funded projects that will affect their lives.
Note: This message contains my own thoughts and may not reflect an official position of the IAP2-USA or any of its members. If their is interest in discussing this topic further, either openly or confidentially, please let me know.
best,
Steve Buckley, #OpenGov liaison
International Association for Public Participation, U.S. Chapter
http://www.IAP2usa.org
Collaboration Engineer
Cape Cod, Mass.
http://www.OpenGovMetrics.com
G: 508-348-9090
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