South Carolina and Rhode Island are looking at ways to restructure their state governments. Both states are considering elimination of state administrative offices, and would put that authority within the Governor’s purview. Rhode Island’s Chief Auditor has already resigned in the wake of the action in that state.
Gov 2.0 is term that references the use of technology to make government an open platform for innovation. The term and the concept gained traction with public officials around the start of the Obama Administration which brought on a number of forward thinking, technology savvy staffers for key IT roles. Although recently, the idea has [...]
Arizona’s controversial ‘papers please,’ law will go before the Supreme Court this week on questions of whether the oversteps federal immigration statutes violating the federal supremacy clause. While significant, the challenge to Arizona’s law is just one of several developments happening on the immigration issue at all levels of government. Last week several other states [...]
Last week, CivSource reported on several concerns over Google’s new privacy policy raised by government IT consultants Jeff Gould and Doug Miller. In the article, both men raised several concerns about Google’s new privacy policy and what it might mean for government customers. Google has responded, in an attempt to address those concerns.
The Oklahoma state legislature is looking at a measure that would apply the Open Records Act to the statehouse. Oklahoma is one of only five states left that do not subject their state legislature to open records laws.
Despite a variety of programs designed to reduce the cost burden on homeowners in the wake of the financial crisis, a new study from the Center for Housing Policy confirms that many working households are paying half or more of their income into housing costs. CivSource spoke with Laura Williams, research associate with the Center [...]
The recall action against Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin is going forward but at a significant cost to local municipalities and with a significant fight over the privacy of residents that signed recall petitions. Cash strapped municipalities are facing thousands in additional costs that will result from a special election. Citizens and privacy advocates are [...]
Rochester, Minnesota and Las Vegas, Nevada are teaming up with IBM on using predicitive analytics for law enforcement. The efforts are part of IBM’s broader Smarter Cities initiative which uses analytics and other tools to provide big data to officials about how their cities and states look and operate. CivSource spoke with Mark Cleverley, Director, [...]
As we start out a new year, I would like to provide some perspective on the major issues likely to face the states in 2012. My perspective is based on having had the opportunity to meet with a large number of governors and state legislative leaders over the last several months and attending several national [...]
Several cities and states are passing resolutions against corporate personhood. The resolutions are the result of Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which gave corporations the same first amendment rights as individuals and thereby opening the floodgates for money in politics in the US. Cities and states with rules governing political contributions [...]
