Bills seek to boost government transparency, accountability
By Alessia Grunberger For MarylandReporter.com Government transparency was the reoccurring theme at Wednesday’s House Health and Government Operations Committee hearing,
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Maryland Senate committee scales back Hogan tax relief proposals
Photo above: Sen. Ed Kasemeyer, chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. By Len Lazarick Len@MarylandReporter.com A Senate committee
Read moreMaryland law seeks to make getting government documents easier
Photo illustration by Enokson By Len Lazarick Len@MarylandReporter.com A wide range of nonprofit groups, including Common Cause and the newspaper
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Maryland Attorney General-elect Brian Frosh promises greater transparency
At victory celebration election night Nov. 4, Attorney General-elect Brian Frosh and Comptroller Peter Franchot on left. By Len Lazarick
Read moreJournalists ask Obama to stop ‘politically driven suppression of news’ at federal agencies
The Society of Professional Journalists, the National Newspaper Association and 36 other journalism and open government groups sent a letter to President Obama Tuesday asking him to stop “politically driven suppression of news and information about federal agencies.”
Read moreHouse sends hundreds of bills to Senate; public information, Common Core among topics
In a flurry of activity to meet Monday’s deadline for bills sent to the Senate for action, the House of Delegates passed over 210 bills since Friday, most of them with unanimous or near unanimous votes.
Read moreSenators object to bill that would force most legislators to commute
Sen. Allan Kittleman’s colleagues on a Senate committee were clearly unhappy with his legislation that would force most of them to commute and no longer reimburse their lodging in Annapolis during the session.
Kittleman, R-Howard and Carroll, has again introduced legislation that would restrict the housing stipend legislators are permitted during session – a maximum $101 per day – to those living more than 50 miles from Annapolis.
Read moreMarylanders unhappy with information flow on laws, regs, taxes
Two thirds of voters are not satisfied with the information they get about Maryland laws, regulations and taxes, according to the results of a mobile phone survey being released Thursday by the OpenGov Foundation. The foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on using technology to make public information more accessible, also found that 78% of Maryland voters want advance notification about Maryland policies that will impact them.
Read moreLegislative Watch website provides voting records for Assembly members
The website, Maryland Legislative Watch, has released newly aggregated voting records for each delegate and senator in the General Assembly. Previously, those votes were not available by member, said founder and coordinator Elizabeth Myers.
Read moreGansler proposes new inspector general to take ‘back room’ out of state spending
As he prepares to run for governor, Attorney General Doug Gansler is proposing a six-point Good Government overhaul to beef up accountability and transparency on state spending. This includes a new public information inspector general to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent efficiently and effectively.
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