Conflicts of Interests Acts, State and Local Government and General Assembly; disclosure forms. (SB265)

Introduced By

Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) with support from co-patron Sen. Janet Howell (D-Reston)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

State and Local Conflict of Interests Act and General Assembly Conflicts of Interests Act. Provides for centralized filing of disclosure forms under both Acts with the Secretary of the Commonwealth and development of a searchable electronic database. The bill also requires disclosure of gifts to immediate family members and makes other clarifying changes. Read the Bill »

Status

01/24/2014: Merged into SB649

History

DateAction
01/04/2014Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/14 14100763D
01/04/2014Referred to Committee on Rules
01/07/2014Impact statement from VCSC (SB265)
01/24/2014Incorporated by Rules (SB649-Norment) (16-Y 0-N)

Comments

Waldo Jaquith writes:

The Secretary shall establish and maintain a searchable electronic database comprising all disclosure forms. Such database shall be available to the public through the Internet.

Please, no. Let's face it: the website made by the Secretary of the Commonwealth for this data isn't going to be very good. "A searchable database" means that the data is only as useful as the website developer makes it. Require by law that the data in this database be downloadable, so that third parties (e.g., me) can make a better website with this data, so that it can actually be useful to people.