Blog Posts
Covid Spreads, But Still No Data
January 12, 2021, by Sandra Moscoso
This piece was written by DCOGC Board Member Sandra Moscoso and edited by Board Member Miranda Spivack. This post is part of a series that will become a case study in the D.C. Open Government Coalition’s 2021 open government education and training program. We will post information soon early next year about how to enroll. […]
Transparency Watch: D.C. Issues in Review, Old Year and New
January 9, 2021, by Fritz Mulhauser
We put aside year-end reflections on D.C. affairs as two events consumed the city this week—initially, Wednesday’s (6) news about the election in Georgia that changed the balance of power in the U.S. Senate and, not least, that could increase the possibility of D.C. voting rights. Then that night, unthinkable incitement by the President resulted […]
December 17, 2020, by Sandra Moscoso
This piece was written by DCOGC Board Member Sandra Moscoso and edited by Board Member Miranda Spivack. This post is part of a series that will become a case study in the D.C. Open Government Coalition’s 2021 open government education and training program. We will post information early next year about how to enroll. In […]
December 7, 2020, by Sandra Moscoso
This piece was co-written and edited by DCOGC Board Members Sandra Moscoso and Miranda Spivack and Fritz Mulhauser. Want to learn more about what the D.C. government and D.C. Council are doing? Interested in getting records and data about their work? The D.C. Open Government Coalition will start an education and training program in the […]
December 2, 2020, by Fritz Mulhauser
The expected D.C. Freedom of Information Act changes passed uneventfully in a marathon session December 1, the next-to-last legislative meeting of the current Council. An emergency law good for 90 days passed with the one required reading. A similar temporary counterpart lasting 225 days passed as well and will get its second vote at the […]
D.C. Council Chairman Responds to Community with Proposed Return of FOIA Deadlines in the New Year
November 25, 2020, by Fritz Mulhauser
The D.C. Council will vote Tuesday (1) on emergency legislation to restore deadlines for processing public records requests. Beginning January 15, 2021, new requests once again must be answered in 15 days, appeals in 10. The clock also re-starts then for agencies to answer the thousands of requests backlogged since March, but their deadline will […]
Eviction Record Sealing Legislation Needs to Assure Public Access — Coalition Tells D.C. Council
November 15, 2020, by Fritz Mulhauser
Legislation to help renters is gaining traction in the D.C. Council but includes court record-sealing provisions that could end the kind of research that brings tenant problems to light. Since D.C. courts are not covered by any laws providing public access to records, the Open Government Coalition has asked in a new statement that permanent […]
November 7, 2020, by Fritz Mulhauser
After 13 months of investigation, the D.C. Office of Open Government (OOG) in a November 5 opinion has advised the Metropolitan Police Department to correct mistaken policies on blurring details and charging fees for released video. The new ruling says D.C. law supports the public right to know and requires not “redaction” but release of […]
October 16, 2020, by Fritz Mulhauser
Open Government Coalition President Tom Susman recommended Thursday (15) that the Council improve how video of police at work is released to serve both the public interest in transparency and officers’ interest in disproving false misconduct claims. His testimony supported passage of a permanent law that would be a strengthened version of emergency legislation now […]
New Data on D.C. Public Records Requests Show Backlog Mounting – Could Last for Months
October 7, 2020, by Fritz Mulhauser
Backlogs have grown to almost double last year’s as DC agencies fail to keep up with public requests for records under the D.C. Freedom of Information Act during the pandemic, according to new figures obtained by the D.C. Open Government Coalition. Statistics released to the D.C. Council by the mayor’s office show almost 2,000 requests […]
