Agenda for 2024 – join us

DC Open Government Coalition campaigns in 2024 include:

  • Office of Administrative Hearings – pushing for progress in final stretch of public access to case opinions of decided cases now secret (promised for September 2024)
  • Metropolitan Police Department – successfully opposing limits on public information on police misconduct proposed in crime bills from the mayor and some Council members, while urging funding for access to files of past police misconduct complaints and new database with future decided complaints (passed by the Council in 2022 but unfunded) — along with related advocacy for revamping system of estimating bills’ costs, in light of our bombshell evidence in spring testimony how Chief Financial Officer does a shaky job of it yet gets the last word
  • DC Archives – pushing for appropriate plans and staffing for new building under way at UDC campus site, at last a sparkling new facility in time for 250th anniversary of the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence (July 4,2026) will showcase and make publicly accessible past DC records
  • Office of the Chief Technology Officer – successfully advocated for new online public records request portal (in place June 2024) with continued advocacy so it works right and also assures public access to data on requests.

We will continue to:

  • Help: responding to individuals with any difficulties getting access to records, meetings, and data; the Help Desk is open — write us any time (info@dcogc.org)
  • Sue: going to court to get needed changes (two cases pending, one for database access and a second to enforce proactive publication of some records (without FOIA request) as required by law but opposed by the mayor
  • Blow the whistle: filing requests for advisory opinions by the Office of Open Government on agency mistakes in implementing the DC open government laws (building on a track record of many successful complaints in last decade)
  • Convene: we held another community “Summit” in March 2024 to celebrate Sunshine week as well as public education forums around the District; and watch for special event in fall with federal government partners on what should open government look like in coming years of the 21st century
  • Educate: we blog about developments in DC government transparency policy and practice — the tools of citizen engagement — as a unique service to the community as local journalism declines
  • Build our Coalition: by recruiting new board members to expand community connections.

With DC Council attention in 2023 and spring 2024 centered on crime and extraordinarily tight FY25 budget problems, we postponed some longstanding legislative objectives but will return to them in the fall:

  • a Council-sponsored commission to shape a vision of the plans, policies, and resoiuurs for all aspects of 21st c-ntury citizen access to government information and engagement in decisions
  • FOIA expansion to charter schools – dozen of schools educating tens of thousands of DC children with no obligation to be transparent in spending and operations
  • making permanent the current temporary DC Code limits on government employee use of private messaging apps for official business.

For further information and to get involved, we can be reached at info@dcogc.org.