OPEN GOVERNMENT
(Posted 2010-11-15 17:57:00 by ArchPaladin)

In going through my regular news browsing today I came across the Food
Safety Modernization Act [ http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s510/show ]
[opencongress.org].

The news article that I found about it was of the opinion that passage of
the act would prohibit Americans from growing food in gardens, which looks
blatantly incorrect by reading the summary of the bill.  The bill itself
looks like it could use some better provisions to protect and work with
small farms, but outside of that it seems ok.  I would definitely want to
see it changed to include such provision if it is going to be passed.

In truth, the real reason I bring this up is because I had never come
across Open Congress [ http://www.opencongress.org ] [opencongress.org] or
Govtrack [ http://www.govtrack.us/ ] [govtrack.us] before needing to find
the text of a bill before.  These are pretty cool sites.  Given that
government is so complicated and the administration process very long, it's
good to see organizations that actually look to present the state of our
government and the different laws they are considering.  Even more
interesting to see which lobby organizations support which bills and how
much money they are spending (and who gets it).

Not quite sure that I'd be tracking bills all the time now, but at least I
know how to find more factual information if I need it.

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