Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

OpenMass Update…

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In a new and exciting (at least I think!) development, OpenMass.org has figured out how to automate roll call votes in the house.

What does this mean? Now you can see how members in the house voted on bills that have been enacted. Coming soon look for missed votes, quorum call participation and voting analysis and of course rss feeds on all of this and yes Peter P, easy to embeddable tools for blogs.

Because this is completely automated there may be some errors (I have tested it but you never know). So if you have some spare time please check out this new feature and let me know if there are any errors.

Thanks

Please share widely!
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Comments

  4. Thanks Jim. I cannot imagine that in a state such as ours the government never had the inclination to shine so much light on the process as you have.

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    A related question – can we begin compiling town budget data and sending it to you for future use? I feel like this is the perfect forum to someday allow folks to really see what cities and towns spend and what their priorities are. Again – more transparency!

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    I guess I am actually asking you to do work…sorry about that…just keep it in mind if you ever decide to expand!

    • helping to make the state and local budget decision making processes more and more transparent. For instance how many of us know that the budget director in the Secretariat of Administration and Finance -A&F- sent out a July email notifying all Secretariats, agencies and departments that their budget requests for fiscal year 09 must be submitted to A&F on September 10.

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      While budget reforms enacted a decade ago require that each Secretary send out a public notice for public hearings before submitting their budget to A&F, the hearing schedule as well as the attendence has always been spotty.

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      This is only the first step in the Governor?s budget making process ? negotiations and information sharing between the agencies and departments will go on through the end of the year, smart and savvy advocates are already working with the appropriate departments and agencies to monitor the process and do their own information sharing and advocacy for their programs. Seems like a good civic engagement opportunity to me. 

    • Part of my long term plan for the “localmass” section of openmass is to expand the coverage for cities and towns beyond  its current state. So to answer, yes, but I can’t guarantee any time frames.

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      If you want to send me some data, send it to my gmail account (you can get that by clicking on my BMG profile.)

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      And thanks to everyone for the kind words.

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      • I will see what I can get together on my end with the folks in my area.

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        I can already see our selectmen,school committee members, and department heads shaking in their boots!

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        One of the school committee members told a parent this year, “No one outside the school system could understand our budget.”

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        Lets break down that wall! (Someday.)

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