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Sunlight before signing is an open government campaign pledge made during the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign to make non-emergency bills freely available online for a five-day public comment period prior to signing. The campaign promise is a reference to a quote by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis that "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."[1]

The well-received initiative initially faced technical hurdles in its implementation and had limited follow-through. A review by the Cato Institute found that approximately 62% of non-emergency bills during the first term of the presidency of Barack Obama met the pledge.

Campaign pledge

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During the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign, Obama advocated for transparent government by pledging to make non-emergency bills freely available online for a five-day public comment period online prior to signing.[2][3][4]

It stems from a quote by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis that "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants" in that government transparency would root out corruption akin to sunlight's germicidal properties.[5] The pledge was initially made in Manchester, NH on June 22, 2007.[6]

At a campaign rally, Obama pitched the open government initiative:[7][8]

I'll make our government open and transparent, so that anyone can ensure that our business is the people's business. Justice Louis Brandeis once said "sunlight is the greatest disinfectant", and as president I'm going to make it impossible for congressmen or lobbyists to slip pork barrel projects or corporate welfare into laws when no one's looking, because when I'm president, meetings where laws are written will be more open to the public. No more secrecy; that's a commitment I make to you as president. [Applause] No more secrecy. [Applause] And when there's a bill that ends up on my desk as president, you, the public, will have five days to look online and find out what's in it before I sign it, [Applause] so that you know what your government's doing. When there are meetings between lobbyists and a government agency, we'll put as many of those meetings as possible online for every American to watch. When there's a tax bill being debated in Congress, you will know the names of the corporations that would benefit and how much money they would get, and we will put every corporate tax break and every pork barrel project online for every American to see. You will know who asked for them, and you can decide whether your representative is actually representing you. [Applause]

— Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign[9]

A 2008 campaign brochure described the Sunlight Before Signing initiative as follows:

Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Barack Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and give input on the White House website for five days. In addition to ensuring that the public has the ability to review legislation, the sunlight will help ensure that earmarks tucked into appropriations bills are exposed. And Obama will sign legislation in the light of day without attaching signing statements that undermine the legislative intent.

— Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign[10][11][12]

Implementation

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In 2009, when a congressional bill passed, a link would be posted to the Library of Congress.[8] Obama sought to have links to the bills and associated discussion posted to the White House website, Whitehouse.gov. There were a number of technical hurdles that had to be overcome to make it feasible.[13] Initially, links were posted on orphaned subpages of Whitehouse.gov domain, only accessible via keywords using the website's internal search engine and not discoverable via the sitemap or an external search engine, thus rendering them inaccessible.[14] Eventually, separate sections for pending, signed, and vetoed legislation were added to the White House Web site along with an RSS feed, enabling citizens to track new bills.[15]

The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama following his first week in office on January 29, 2009, and was not posted until after the signing.[16][17] The second bill, Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act of 2009, was also signed before being posted.[18] The lack of delay for the initial presidency was attributed in part to trying to build political momentum.[19] A review by the Cato Institute found that approximately 62% of non-emergency bills during the first term of the presidency of Barack Obama met the sunlight before signing pledge.[20][21]

The Sunlight before signing pledge was added to the Change.gov ethics agenda listing.[22] The initiative was well-received, but was found to have inconsistent follow-through.

Aftermath

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Though the promise was well-intentioned, its implementation as-is would have limited impact as commenting on a passed bill is largely meaningless.[8] As such, there was an effort to get bills posted online, earlier in the process.[8]

In May 2009, the website Data.gov was launched as part of the open government initiative.[5] Obama's focus on open government led to an increased interest in civic technology.[23]

A similar legislative reform initiative, known as the Read the Bill, was advocated by the Sunlight Foundation for implementing a 72-hour hold on new bills, allowing congressional staff time to read them before voting.[24][25]

See also

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Further reading

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  • "The best disinfectant: Hopes of "open government" under Barack Obama have been only partly fulfilled", The Economist, May 26, 2012
  • "Addressing transparency in the federal bureaucracy : Moving toward a more open government : Hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform" (PDF). HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION. March 13, 2013. Serial No. 113–9. Retrieved May 13, 2024.

References

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  1. ^ Brandeis, L.D. (1913, 20 December), "What Publicity Can Do", Harper’s Weekly, 58 (2974), pp. 10-13.
  2. ^ Coglianese, Cary (October 2009). "The Transparency President? The Obama Administration and Open Government". Governance. 22 (4): 529–544. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0491.2009.01451.x.
  3. ^ "A Good Time for Transparency : Sunlight Foundation". Sunlight Foundation. November 7, 2008. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  4. ^ Umansky, Eric (November 7, 2008). "Obama Details Promises for Transparency". ProPublica. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  5. ^ a b Etzioni, Amitai (December 2010). "Is Transparency the Best Disinfectant?". Journal of Political Philosophy. 18 (4): 389–404. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9760.2010.00366.x.
  6. ^ Kelsch, Keith (February 13, 2016). "The Restoration of Common Consent". The Political Optimist. Lulu.com. pp. 198–199. ISBN 978-0-9827313-5-2. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  7. ^ Eskow, Richard (May 25, 2011). ""No More Secrecy": Open The Wall Street Negotiations and Empower Voters". HuffPost. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d Seelye, Katharine Q. (June 22, 2009). "White House Changes the Terms of a Campaign Pledge About Posting Bills Online". The New York Times (NYT). Retrieved April 25, 2024.
  9. ^ "Barack Obama "Public Will Have 5 Days To Look At Every Bill That Lands On My Desk"". YouTube. February 14, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  10. ^ Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign (September 22, 2008). "The change we need in Washington - Stop wasteful spending and curb influence of special interests so government can tackle our great challenges" (PDF). Retrieved April 27, 2024. Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Barack Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and give input on the White House website for five days. In addition to ensuring that the public has the ability to review legislation, the sunlight will help ensure that earmarks tucked into appropriations bills are exposed. And Obama will sign legislation in the light of day without attaching signing statements that undermine the legislative intent.
  11. ^ Eddlem, Thomas R. (August 31, 2009). "In the shadows of promise: evaluating Obama's campaign pledges". The New American. 25 (12). Gale A207112329.
  12. ^ "Blueprint for Change Obama and Biden's Plan for America" (PDF). Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign. 2008. p. 19. Retrieved May 18, 2024. Shine the Light on Federal Contracts, Tax Breaks and Earmarks: Sunlight before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.
  13. ^ Vargas, Jose Antonio (March 2, 2009). "Obama Team Finds It Hard to Adapt Its Web Savvy to Government". Washington Post. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  14. ^ Harper, Jim (March 13, 2013). "Testimony of Jim Harper Director of Information Policy Studies The Cato Institute to the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform United States House of Representatives at a hearing entitled "Addressing Transparency in the Federal Bureaucracy: Moving Toward A More Open Government"" (PDF). Committee on Oversight & Government Reform. Retrieved April 27, 2024. One illustration of discoverability failure comes from early implementation of Obama's "Sunlight Before Signing" promise on Whitehouse.gov. As a campaigner, Obama promised he would post bills online for five days prior to signing them. When the White House began to implement this practice early in the new administration, it began putting pages up on Whitehouse.gov for bills Congress had sent to the president. But these pages were not within the link structure that starts on the Whitehouse.gov homepage. A person (or search engine) following every link on Whitehouse.gov would not have arrived at these pages. The bills were literally posted on the Whitehouse.gov domain, but they were not discoverable in any practical sense. The only way to find them was to use Whitehouse.gov's search engine, knowing ahead of time what terms to search for.
  15. ^ "Kudos to Obama for letting in the sunlight - Washington Examiner". Washington Examiner. July 4, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  16. ^ Brown, Carrie Budoff (February 5, 2009). "Obama breaks five-day pledge". Politico. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  17. ^ Elliott, Justin (December 27, 2010). "The promises Obama wants you to keep forgetting". Salon. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  18. ^ York, Byron (February 17, 2009). "For Obama, it's more about showmanship than sunlight - Washington Examiner". Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  19. ^ "Campaign Promises and Political Reality". C-Span. April 30, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  20. ^ Harper, Jim (February 12, 2013). "Sunlight Before Signing in Obama's First Term". Cato Institute. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  21. ^ Forbes, Jordan (May 14, 2010). "Sunlight Before Signing?". National Taxpayers Union. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  22. ^ "The Obama-Biden Transition Team Change.gov Ethics Agenda". Change.gov. 2008. Archived from the original on November 16, 2008. Retrieved May 18, 2024. Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.
  23. ^ Harper, Jim (January 11, 2023). "We Need a More Machine-Readable Republic". American Enterprise Institute. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  24. ^ Harper, Jim (July 10, 2009). "Broken Promises — to Voters and the New York Times". Cato Institute. Archived from the original on September 14, 2015. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  25. ^ Volokh, Hanah Metchis (Winter 2011). "Read-the-Bill Rule for Congress, A". Missouri Law Review. 76 (1). Article 5. Retrieved May 13, 2024.
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