HB 2500 letter
May 18, 2009
Oregon State Senate Rules Committee
- Richard Devlin, Chair
- Ted Ferrioli, Vice Chair
- Ginny Burdick
- Rick Metsger
- Jason Atkinson
RE: Oregon Transparency Task Force recommendations regarding HB 2500
Dear Honorable Chair and Members of the Oregon State Senate Rules Committee:
We are a coalition of Oregonians with a shared interest in making the state's government more transparent and accessible to its citizens, and expanding opportunities for their constructive influence.
We are enthusiastic about House Bill 2500. We believe it can help guide the state in the right direction by creating opportunities for all citizens to learn about and engage with the state budget. Ultimately, such an informed and engaged citizenry will continue to bring spending in line with the public will and the public interest.
We feel, however, that there are certain improvements that should be made to the bill before it is enacted. Therefore, we would like to encourage you to schedule one or more work sessions, and take the following points into consideration as you craft the agenda for this bill.
We will make every effort to rally strong, well-informed citizens to deliver expert testimony to such a session. We look forward to working in a collaborative fashion with your committee to refine this important piece of legislation.
I. GOVERNANCE
- Citizen membership on the commission
Whereas the purpose of this project is to provide an interface between government and its citizens, the Open Books Oregon Advisory Commission should have equal representation from the public as from the government. We recommend a 50/50 split between government and non-government members. Additionally, there should be opportunities for the public to directly influence non-government appointments to the commission.
- Expertise
Commission membership should include citizens with several distinct kinds of expertise. The commission's recommendations should be informed by best practices from several industries (enumerated in Section II, below).
- Best Practices
We recommend the consideration for removal or modification of language in the clauses of Section 2, Part 2, a and b: "...in accordance with standards established by the Oregon Department of Administrative Services" and "...the format and manner required by the Oregon Department of Administrative Services." Recognizing the authority and resources of DAS, we still have some concern that these clauses could result in unnecessary barriers to implementation. We recommend that this "format and manner" be examined as it relates to industry best practices for handling of this type of data. We also recommend that such questions be assessed by the expertise of the Advisory Commission, with strong consideration for cooperation and compatibility with DAS standards, requirements, and existing infrastructure.
II. ADDITIONAL TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND COMPONENTS
In order for the program established by HB 2500 to achieve its greatest potential, it must serve several purposes and audiences effectively. For instance, it should be possible for an average citizen to improve her understanding of state agencies that interest her; for a public policy organization to support existing and new research and analysis activities; and for an independent web programmer to develop innovative ways to present detailed information to various audiences.
Therefore, membership on the commission should include citizens with background in various relevant organizational and technical fields.
- Emphasis on Reusable Data
We believe the greatest value of House Bill 2500 lies in the ability of non-government entities to find innovative ways to present the information provided. In the early stages, the web site generated by DAS may be the only entity available to the public; but it is essential that the system's design make the data readily available for re-publication in different forms.
This dynamic is becoming commonplace on the increasingly interactive Internet. Numerous organizations and web sites generate innovative presentations of information published by government, in numerous areas. Properly leveraging this sort of non-governmental contribution should be one of our primary goals.
In addition to presenting the data for an audience of citizens, the bill should emphasize the presentation of the data in ways that invite re-publication using other computer applications. Raw data increases the utility and usefulness of this information by allowing it to be reused to generate reports, visualizations, and deeper analyses. Allowing the public to play a role in the presentation of the data also eases the burden on DAS, allowing more value to flow from the program with fewer resources expended.
- Relevant areas of Technical, Operational, and Organizational Expertise
Web programming and technical familiarity with open, interoperable standards like XML, RSS, RDF, XBRL, eXBML; database design knowledge; public performance measurement; data quality auditing; logic models; outcomes frameworks; comparability; context; classification; data visualization; mashups; interface design, broad collaborative efforts (e.g. Wikipedia, Connectipedia, etc.), user communities (e.g. policy analysts, decision-makers, stakeholders, etc.), and formats for data publication enabling maximum reusability by the Internet community.
- Strategic Plans
There should be a place on the website for agencies and other relevant bodies to attach or link to current strategic plans, where they exist.
- Outcomes Framework with Safeguards
Measures based in statistical costs and outcomes will suit some agencies and programs better than others. One likely outcome of increased transparency could be increased pressure on agencies to make quantifiable improvements in their performance. In some cases, this could result in significant distraction from an agency's core mission.
Placing too much emphasis on performance measures that may require carefully deliberated refinement could have lasting negative effects if not handled properly.
We recommend implementing at least two safeguards by design:
- careful review and planning of performance measurement and outcome metrics using input from people with domain expertise to explore, address and document validity of concept, comparability and contextual factors of influence.
- ensure that the reporting system accommodates documentation of data set limitations and context-related factors to place the data in the larger story of its collection
We also recommend that the interactive interface feature drill-down with links between at least three clearly defined levels of outcome metrics (e.g. agency-level, multi-agency, and high-level societal metrics) where feasible with existing data and systems.
III. IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
Combining Volunteer Resources with DAS: For optimal collaboration we need to clarify the relationship between the advisory commission and DAS. We should also include provisions that state that implementation not be closed to agency programming, but might also draw upon the wealth of open source volunteers, the academic community, and citizen expertise in this area.
- Communication and Outreach
A clearly stated priority for outreach and communication would help ensure fair, equal and effective access by citizenry, stakeholders, legislators and other decision-makers, in fulfillment of the ambitions of this bill. Operating with such a priority will help weave this project into the fabric of Oregon communities and provide this service with the visibility necessary for its long-term success.
- Present Recommendation
In order for this project to meet its full potential, we recommend that you schedule one or more work sessions to carefully examine how to best handle these issues.
Respectfully submitted,
Oregon Transparency Task Force Members
- Pete Forsyth
- Eric Hanson
- James Oellrich
- Marie Deatherage
- Bart Massey
- Laura Rose Misaras
- Kristin Wolff
- Kathleen Ehli
- Dylan Amo