by RACHNA on MARCH 16, 2012

Sunshine Week (March 11 - 17) is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information, according to sunshineweek.org. For Sunshine Week, POPVOX is spotlighting a variety of bills related to government transparency and access to information. We hope you’ll weigh in on these bills on POPVOX and share with your friends and networks.

HR 2340 Transparency in Government Act improves access to information in the legislative and executive branches of the Government.
HR 4010 The DISCLOSE Act provides for additional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations, and other entities
S 2198 The Commonsense Contractor Compensation Act implements common sense controls on the taxpayer-funded salaries of government contractors by limiting reimbursement for excessive compensation equal to the pay of the U.S. President.
HR 2339 Lobbyist Disclosure Enhancement Act creates a Lobbying Disclosure Act Task Force, and makes certain modifications to the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.
HR 1974 Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act requires the Public Printer to establish and maintains a website accessible to the public that allows the public to obtain electronic copies of all congressionally mandated reports in one place.
HR 1564 Faster FOIA Act establishes the Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays.
S 717 Public Online Information Act (POIA) requires publicly available Government information held by the executive branch to be made available on the Internet and expresses the sense of Congress that publicly available information held by the legislative and judicial branches should be available on the Internet. (Also HR 1349.)
HR 2146 The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act requires accountability and transparency in Federal spending.
HR 3071 Presidential Records Act Amendments amends the Presidential Records Act to establish procedures for the consideration of claims of constitutionally based privilege against disclosure of Presidential records.
Please keep in mind that highlighting a bill doesn’t imply a POPVOX endorsement in any way. Rather, we’re simply trying to offer one more way to stay informed of an overwhelmingly complex legislative system.