4/17/10

Cross Post: Florida Hardest Hit Housing TARP Spending Plan Out; California Refuses to Disclose Their $700 Million Plan.

In a new post HERE on my Oregon Housing Blog, I provide a link to Florida's plan to spend $418 Million in TARP Hardest Hit housing funds. This plan was sent to Treasury on April 16th along with plans from 4 other states (Arizona, California, Michigan, Nevada).

Regretfully, the same post also points out that California is refusing to disclose how it plans to spend their $700 Million TARP Hardest Hit funding allocation, claiming that Treasury won't let them.

As I have noted in prior posts, I am optimistic that Oregon will provide a much better example of open government than any of the first round Hardest Hit funded states [ Florida clearly was the best of the first round states].

I expect Oregon will have more community meetings and more specific alternatives, and at some point will publish the complete draft plan for Oregonians to comment upon.

(A link to my earlier cross post about absence of public disclosure in first round states is HERE; you can find all of my posts on this topic on the Oregon Housing Blog with a keyword search on the blog using term "hardest hit").

Originally created and posted on the
Open Government, News and Issues Oregon Blog.

4/13/10

Cross Post: Public Disclosure Lacking in State Applications for $1.5 Billion in Hardest Hit Housing TARP Funding.

Oregon Housing Blog Post HERE details lack of public disclosure from first round states applying for $1.5 billion in Hardest Hit housing TARP funding. Four days prior to the application submission deadline of April 16th these states have provided very little specifics about how they plan to spend the money.

Post also highlights required plan contents and opportunity for Oregon to provide a public disclosure model for the $88 Million plan they will submit as a second round Hardest Hit state, NLT June 1, 2010.

Originally created and posted on the Open Government News and Issues, Oregon Blog.

3/18/10

New Federal Public Online Information Act Introduced.

Sunlight Foundation has new web page HERE explaining this new federal legislation, aka POIA, that has now been introduced in the House.

Cross Post: Oregon Housing Blog Sunshine Week Recap.

A recap of past activity related to Sunshine Week from my Oregon Housing Blog, as well as continuing challenges.

Post is HERE.

8/30/08

Sarah Palin Financial Disclosures.

Sarah Palin financial disclosures can be found HERE.

6/19/08

Oregon Disclaims ORS Copyright.

I attended a hearing today where the Oregon Legislative Counsel Committee voted unanimously to disclaim any future copyright claims on the Oregon Revised Statutes.

My prior post with background leading up to this decision is HERE.

6/17/08

Sunlight Foundation Picks Up on My Prior Highlighting of a YouTube Post.

The [highly recommended] Sunlight Foundation Blog, in a "Local Sunlight " post, picked up on one of my recent posts about a House Small Business Committee upload of a RESPA hearing onto YouTube.

This Sunlight Foundation Blog post, which includes other "Local Sunlight" examples can be found HERE.