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A Look Ahead

New Congress Considers Transparency Legislation

While Congress spent much of January focused on reopening the federal government from the longest shutdown in history, the House of Representatives and Senate continued to attend to the daily business of legislating–including holding hearings and passing bills.

On January 17, ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ celebrated passage of the bipartisan Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency (GREAT) Act () in the House. The GREAT Act would modernize federal grant reporting and increase transparency for grant-making agencies and the public. It awaits action in the Senate. ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ also applauded the reintroduction of the Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act (, ) to improve access to reports mandated by Congress through the establishment of a searchable central website managed by the Government Publishing Office. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation was introduced by Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) on January 19 and January 23,Ìýrespectively.

These legislative actions come on the heels of the enactment of the OPEN Government Data Act, which was signed by President Trump on January 14 as part of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (). The new law promotes greater distribution of and public access to federal government data by defining data, machine-reliability, and open license in government; creating standards for making federal government data available to the public; and requiring the federal government to use open data to improve decision-making.

While the second round of negotiations to fund the government for the current fiscal year will undoubtedly dominate the headlines in the coming weeks, ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ expects the introduction of additional legislation supporting a more open and transparent government. Specifically,Ìýwe anticipate the reintroduction of the Electronic Court Records Reform Act that would improve the federal courts’ electronic records system and require that all federal court documents be searchable, machine-readable, and available free of charge through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system.

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A Look Ahead

ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ Priorities in the New Congress

Today is the start of the 116th Congress, with all of the pomp and circumstance opening day brings to Capitol Hill. There are more than 100 new members in this Congressional class, including forty lawyers. During the next few weeks, as Committee assignments are finalized, staff are hired, and members of Congress settle into their offices on Capitol Hill, we will share ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ’s Public Policy Priorities with Congressional offices and speak to staff about the importance of access to justice, balance in copyright law, greater access to government information, openness in government, and protection of privacy. You can help ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ’s advocacy efforts by getting to know your members of Congress and confidentially sharing any connections you have with your lawmakers via our .

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