Transparency in government ensures accountability and trust between citizens and their leaders by making the workings of governance open to public scrutiny. Over the years, significant strides have been made to embed this principle into U.S. law, marking milestones in the journey toward openness. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of 1966 laid the groundwork, granting citizens the right to access federal records and fostering a culture of accountability. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 strengthened this by requiring agencies to operate with a presumption of openness. In recent years, laws like the OPEN Government Data Act have further advanced transparency by mandating federal agencies to make data open and machine-readable, emphasizing the strategic use of public data for innovation and civic engagement. This timeline explores the evolution of these landmark efforts, showcasing the progress made and the challenges that remain in ensuring an informed and empowered citizenry.
Establishes the public’s right to request access to records from any federal agency, a major milestone in Government Transparency.
Significance:
-
Allowed ordinary citizens, media, and watch dog organizations to request information
-
A giant step in Transparency allowing citizens to access data walled behind previously unobtainable Government bureaucracies
-
Codified the presumption of openness in government, allowing citizens to hold agencies accountable
Establishes a code of fair information practices for personal information maintained by federal agencies.
Significance:
- Gives individuals the right to access and amend their records, complementing FOIA
- Provides public recourse over the use and misuse of Government data
- Significant change in a politicized post Watergate era
- Foreshadows information age brought on by the emergence of Computer technology and data
Requires government agencies to hold open meetings, and notices prior to holding and establishes that Government meetings must be done in open.
Significance:
- Enhances transparency by allowing public attendance at agency meetings
- Meetings must be open to the public unless 10 specific exemptions are met
- Defines “Agency” and “Meeting” to remove ambiguity over which meetings should be made public
Requires agencies to make certain types of records available electronically.
Significance:
- Modernized FOIA for the digital age, improving access to electronic records
- Allows greater visibility and dissemination through automation
- Produces records that can be stored and replicated outside of Government allowing greater oversight
Improves agency FOIA operations and creates the Office of Government Information Services and greater visibility and oversight of lobbying and gifts.
Significance:
- Strengthened FOIA by addressing delays and improving oversight
- Strengthens public disclosure requirements concerning lobbying activity and funding
- Places more restrictions on gifts for members of Congress and their staff
- Requires mandatory disclosure of earmarks in expenditure bills.
Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) Requires federal agencies to publish SPENDING data in a standardized format.
Significance:
- Improves the transparency and quality of federal spending data
- Fosters development of numerous Applications
- Supports Research, Analysis, and Development
- Makes more data sets and information available to the public
Codifies the “presumption of openness” and limits the use of FOIA exemptions
Significance:
- Strengthens FOIA by making it harder for agencies to withhold information
- Requires records to be public if requested 3 or more times
- Creates FOIA council to review FOIA request performance
- Creates FOIA.gov to centralize FOIA info and request submissions
Requires federal agencies to publish their data in machine-readable formats. Part of the Evidence Act to make data available to improve Policy decisions.
Significance:
- Mandates Open Data by default
- Creates framework to manage data as an asset
- Creates central data inventory on Data.gov
- Encourages public, and Economic benefit by making data available
