User:Andrew Berger

I am an intern at the Sunlight Foundation.

---

Useful websites for state government transparency

Follow The Money

URL: http://www.followthemoney.org

Description:

• The National Institute on Money in State Politics operates a searchable database of all campaign contributions to political campaigns at the state level. The database allows users to search for contributions to candidates for office at all levels of state government and for contributions spent on supporting and opposing ballot initiatives across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Institute has made available several APIs so programmers can access and display the Institute’s data in their own applications.

Project Vote Smart

URL: http://www.vote-smart.org

Description:

• Project Vote Smart provides detailed information – biographical information, campaign finances, interest groups ratings, issue positions, and public statements – on elected officials including the President, members of Congress, state officials and leadership in state legislatures.

Show me the Spending

URL: http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Portal:Show_Me_The_Spending

Description:

• After the federal government created a spending database for citizens to see what their tax dollars were being spent on, a group of organizations dedicated to bringing government spending into light decided to spread the transparency. Show me the Spending is a coalition of organizations who are working to create state sponsored Web sites where users can easily search for state spending information, including data on grants and contracts.

Library of Congress

URL: http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/states.html

Description:

• The Library of Congress has a resource of state laws that can be accessed from their website. Click on a state and it links to the state’s constitution, legislative websites, executive branch laws, and judicial rulings, as well as legal guides and other state sources.

Justia

URL: http://www.justia.com/us-states/

Description:

• Justia.com provides Internet users with free case law, codes, regulations, legal articles and legal blog databases, as well as community resources. You can search by state and get more resources like legal blogs and state Web sites.

Open Records

URL: http://openrecords.wordpress.com/

Description:

• State Sunshine and Open Records is a blog about freedom of information, open records and access to public documents. It is associated with WikiFoia. They also have links to state based freedom of information groups. Their wiki is set up for the purpose of building a comprehensive “How To” guide for state and local level information requests.

NCSL – Blog

URL: http://ncsl.typepad.com/the_thicket/

Description:

• The Thicket is a blog about federalism and state legislative institutions written by and for legislative junkies. Contributors are among the nation's foremost statehouse observers at the National Conference of State Legislatures. It is also a great resource for state blogs, legislator blogs, and updates on what is happening in state legislatures all over the country.

GODORT

URL: http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/State_Agency_Databases

Description:

• Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT) provides a forum for the discussion of problems and concerns and for the exchange of ideas among librarians working with government documents. GODORT works to initiate and support programs to increase the availability, use, and bibliographic control of documents. GODORT strives to increase communication between documents librarians and other librarians and contributes to the extension and improvement of education and training of documents librarians.

American Library Association – State and Local Documents Task Force

URL: http://www.ala.org/ala/godort/taskforces/statelocaldocuments/index.cfm

Description:

• The purpose of the Federal Documents Task Force (FDTF) is to further the mission of the Government Documents Round Table relating to U.S. government information, to provide a forum for discussion of problems and concerns, and to establish and maintain open links of communication between documents librarians and others involved in the life cycle of government information. They seek to initiate, design, and support programs that will increase the availability and use of Federal publications and government information; improve the bibliographic control of Federal publications and technical reports in all formats; improve the management of documents collections; improve the education and training of documents librarians; and increase communication between documents librarians and other librarians.

State Agency Highlights

URL: http://statedatabase.wordpress.com/

Description:

• State Agency Highlights is an unofficial highlights blog of the State Agency Databases Across the 50 States project being done by the State and Local Documents Task Force of the American Library Association Government Documents Roundtable. This blog highlights interesting state databases that get valuable information out to citizens of that state.

SunshineReview.org

URL: http://www.sunshinereview.org/index.php/Main_Page

Description:

• The mission of the Sunshine Review is to allow regular people to collect and share information about government transparency, openness and accountability at the state and local level. This project is designed to promote awareness about the extent to which local government websites provide useful and needed information. How much can you tell about your city, county, or school district from its website? How do your local government websites stack up to others from around the country? They also provide a useful ten point checklist for what local government websites should provide.

Summary

In response to concerns that the first $350 billion released under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) created by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 had not been administered with enough oversight, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced the TARP Reform and Accountability Act (H.R. 384) on January 9, 2009. Among the oversight provisions in the bill are a requirement that all institutions receiving TARP money file quarterly reports on how they are using the money, restrictions on the merger and acquisition activity among TARP recipients, stricter limits on executive compensation for employees of recipient firms, and an expansion of the Financial Stability Oversight Board. Most of the conditions are meant to apply to the second release of $350 billion in TARP money, which at the time of the introduction of the bill had not yet been released; however, the executive compensation limits apply to those firms that have already received TARP funds.

On January 12, 2009, President George W. Bush notified Congress that, at the request of President-elect Barack Obama, he would formally request the release of the second half of TARP funds. Also on January 12, Rep. Frank indicated that he might accept an agreement with the Obama administration on TARP oversight in place of passing H.R. 384. Four days later, on January 16, 2009, the Senate approved the second release of TARP funds without any additional oversight requirements.

Details

<USbillinfo congress="111" bill="H.R.384" />

According to OpenCongress, the act includes the following provisions:

Modification to TARP and TARP Oversight

• Requires all firms that receive money under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) to report quarterly on how they have used the TARP money, including any amount of increased lending that the money has made possible.
• Directs the Treasury to reach an agreement with any new TARP recipients as to “the manner in which the funds are to be used and benchmarks that the institution is required to meet in using the funding so as to advance the purposes of this Act to strengthen the soundness of the financial system and the availability of credit to the economy.”
• Restricts mergers and acquisitions involving TARP recipients unless the Treasury determines that they would reduce the risk to taxpayers or that the transaction could have been consummated without money from TARP.
• Adds the stricter executive compensation limits from the auto bailout bill to firms that receive TARP money. The stricter limits include a ban on bonuses and incentives for to the 25 most highly compensated employees of a company, “any compensation plan that would encourage manipulation of such institution’s reported earnings to enhance the compensation of any of its employees,” and a mandate to divest in private airplanes. Notably, these stricter limits would apply retroactively to executives from companies that have already received TARP money.
• Authorizes the Treasury to have an observer at board meetings of firms that have received TARP money.
• Directs the Treasury to promptly make TARP funds available to smaller community financial institutions.
• Expands the Financial Stability Oversight Board that was set up by the original bailout bill to include the Chairman of the FDIC and two new members from outside of government to be chosen by the President and confirmed by the Senate. It also gives the board new powers to overturn TARP policy decisions from the Treasury Secretary by a 2/3rds vote.

Foreclosure Mitigation Plan

• Requires that at least $40 billion of the second $350 billion of the financial bailout money is used for a comprehensive foreclosure mitigation plan, which the Treasury must design by March 15, 2009. The plan is required to apply only to owner-occupied residential properties and to leverage private capital to the maximum extent possible.

Auto Industry Refinancing and Restructuring

• Clarifies and confirms that the original financial bailout bill gave the Treasury the authority to give TARP money to automobile companies.

Other Uses of TARP

• Clarifies that the bailout bill gave the Treasury authority “to establish or support facilities to support the availability of consumer loans, including loans for autos and other vehicles and student loans, including through purchase of asset-backed securities, directly or through the Board or any Federal reserve bank.”
• Clarifies that the bailout bill gave the Treasury authority “to provide support to State and local governments, and other issuers of municipal securities, which are having difficulty accessing appropriate financing in the capital markets.” Municipal securities are tax-exempt.

Change to the Hope for Homeowners Program

• Eliminates the 3 percent upfront premium requirement for homeowners that use the FHA “Hope for Homeowners” program to refinance their mortgages.
• Reduces the 1.5% annual premium by about two-thirds.
• Eliminates government profit sharing of any appreciation of home values above what they were at the time of refinancing.

Home Buyer Stimulus

• Require the Treasury to carry out a program “to stimulate demand for home purchases and reduce unsold inventories of residential properties, which shall include ensuring the availability of affordable interest rates on mortgages made for the purchase, by qualified home buyers, of 1- to 4-family residential properties.” The program is to be run under the Treasury’s authority to buy up loans from the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and any Federal Home Loan Bank.
• Suggests to the Treasury that, in designing the program, they take into consideration its impact on geographical areas that have the highest number of foreclosed properties.

Permanent Increase in Deposit Insurance Limits

• Makes permanent the increase in deposit insurance coverage for banks to $250,000, which was part of the original bailout bill.
• Increases the FDIC’s borrowing authority from $30 billion to $100 billion and allows them to borrow more by submitting a written request to the Treasury.
• Allows the FDIC to charge insured banks a special systemic risk assessment in order to recover any losses.

Consideration

House

<USvoteinfo year="2009" chamber="house" rollcall="26" />

Summary

The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2009 (H.R. 35) limits the authority of presidents and former presidents to block the release of presidential records. The bill sets deadlines for the review of records prior to release, gives the incumbent president the authority to reject former presidents' claims of privilege, restricts the ability to assert privilege claims to presidents and former presidents, and eliminates the ability of vice presidents to make privilege claims concerning vice presidential records.

The bill also overturns Executive Order 13233, which was issued on November 1, 2001 by President George W. Bush. That order broadened the authority of presidents and former presidents to block the release of presidential records, extended that authority to former presidents' heirs, and granted similar powers to vice presidents concerning vice presidential records..

H.R. 35 was passed by the House on January 7, 2009 and referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on January 8, 2009. On January 21, 2009, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13489 concerning presidential records, which revoked Executive Order 13233.

<USbillinfo congress="111" bill="H.R.35" />

Details

• Sets a deadline for the review of presidential records selected by the Archivist of the United States for release. Current and former presidents would have 40 business days to review and raise objections prior to the release of the records.
• Gives the incumbent president the authority to reject former presidents' claims of executive privilege.
• Requires presidents to personally assert privilege claims. Assistants, relatives, and descendants would not be allowed to assert privilege claims on behalf of a former president.
• Eliminates the ability of vice presidents to assert executive privilege over vice presidential records.
• Overturns Executive Order 13233 issued by President George W. Bush in 2001.

Consideration

House

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) and 5 co-sponsors from both parties, passed the House without amendment by a vote of 359-58 on January 7, 2009.

<USvoteinfo year="2009" chamber="house" rollcall="5" />

Senate

On January 8, 2009, the bill as passed by the House was received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Summary

Signed into law on February 4, 2009, the Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009 both extends and expands the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which was due to expire on March 31st, 2009. The act provides $32.8 billion over the next four and a half years to maintain the existing coverage of around 7 million children under the program, as well as to expand coverage to an estimated 4.1 million additional children. The expanded program will be financed through increases in federal tobacco taxes, including a 62-cent-per-pack increase in the cigarette excise tax.

Details

• Provides $32.8 billion in funding through September 30, 2013.
• Estimated to expand coverage to 4.1 million previously uninsured children.
• Allows states to cover legal immigrant children and pregnant women who have been in the United States for less than five years. Previously, legal immigrants were required to wait five years after arrival before enrolling in the program.
• Modifies the eligibility verification process to allow states to use Social Security numbers in order to verify that applicants are citizens or legal residents.
• Requires states to provide dental coverage under the program and allows states to offer dental coverage to children who have private health insurance that does not cover dental care.
• Limits the federal government's share of funding for children in families with incomes exceeding 300 percent of the poverty line
• Increases federal tobacco excise taxes, including a 62-cent-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax.

<USbillinfo congress="111" bill="H.R.2" />

Bill Passage

House

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and 43 Co-Sponsors, passed the House without amendment by a vote of 289-139 on January 14, 2009.

<USvoteinfo year="2009" chamber="house" rollcall="16" />

Senate

The Senate passed an amended version of the bill by a vote of 66-32 on January 29, 2009.

<USvoteinfo year="2009" chamber="senate" rollcall="31" />

Before passing the bill, the Senate adopted an amendment from Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) making it easier for states to enroll eligible children in SCHIP who are already enrolled in other federal programs such as food stamps or the National School Lunch Program. This amendment was agreed to by a vote of 55-43.

<USvoteinfo year="2009" chamber="senate" rollcall="29" />

The Senate also considered and rejected a number of amendments that would have limited the expansion of the program outlined in the original bill. These included:

• An amendment by Jim DeMint (R-S.C.] which would have required states to charge families with incomes over two hundred percent of the poverty line a fee in order to participate in the program. This amendment was defeated by a vote of 60-37.

<USvoteinfo year="2009" chamber="senate" rollcall="16" />

• An amendment in the form of a substitute by Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) which would have increased the amount of aid states are allowed to provide to families for the purpose of purchasing private insurance, limited federal funding for states that cover more than just women and children under the program, and which would have excluded legal immigrants from receiving coverage. McConnell's plan would have covered an estimated 2 million children in addition to those already covered and would have been funded primarily through reductions in federal government spending on Medicaid rather than through tax increases. This amendment was defeated by a vote of 65-32.

<USvoteinfo year="2009" chamber="senate" rollcall="18" />

• An amendment by Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that would have allowed states to cover legal immigrants only after covering 95 percent of children currently eligible for the program. This amendment was defeated by a voice vote.

• An amendment by Pat Roberts (R-Kan) that would prohibit states from receiving federal SCHIP funds to cover families making more than either $65,000 in income or the median state income, whichever amount is lower. This amendment was defeated by a vote of 60-36.

<USvoteinfo year="2009" chamber="senate" rollcall="21" />

Second House vote

On February 4, 2009, the House agreed to the amended bill by a vote of 290-135 and President Obama signed it into law that same day.

<USvoteinfo year="2009" chamber="house" rollcall="50" />

Support and opposition

Supporters argued that the expansion of SCHIP was necessary because increasing numbers of Americans have lost employer-sponsored health insurance in recent years. They also saw it as part of a larger effort to reform the health care system. At the signing ceremony, President Obama referred to the expansion as "a down payment on my commitment to cover every single American."

Opponents argued that the expansion was too broad and should have placed lower income limits on eligibility for the program. Republicans expressed concern that those with private health insurance would leave their current plans for government-sponsored ones. They also worried that the new identity verification rules would make it more difficult to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the program.

Particular controversy surrounded the provision allowing states to offer coverage to recently arrived legal immigrants. Opponents sought to maintain the existing rule requiring immigrants to wait for five years before enrolling in the program. Arguing in favor of the new rule, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) stated that "it is likely many of these children are already U.S. citizens and many will become U.S citizens."