It has become much easier to research international corporations thanks to the OpenCorporates database, which is the largest open database of companies in the world with over 169 million companies and over 223 million officers indexed from 131 jurisdictions.  When approaching large corporate entities with an international reach, OpenCorporates provides a useful starting point and is especially helpful in narrowing the list of jurisdictions where companies are registered and in obtaining online corporate registration filings. 

In most cities, the procurement of goods or services follows similar steps – the process starts with the city agency in need of the services writing a bid solicitation or Request for Proposal (RFP), which is then released publicly.  Bid solicitations have traditionally been published in an official city newspaper, though many cities have also begun to list open RFPs online.  New York City, for example, publishes a city newspaper called The City Record that lists all open contracts, as well as public hearings, property auctions and personnel changes within departments. Researchers interested in the public contracting process should familiarize themselves with the exact process in the locale in which they are working and also probe for the existence of resources like The City Record.

In the U.S., each county uses the proceeds from the county’s portion of phone and commissary payments to maintain an inmate welfare fund, which is typically overseen by the County Sheriff’s office and designed to improve the quality of life of inmates. However, the San Diego Union-Tribune recently obtained a full accounting of how that county’s inmate welfare fund has been administered and found that millions of dollars from the fund have been used to pay for county jail staff and operations, including on out-of-county travel and staff cell phones.  The Union-Tribune’s analysis is a good reminder to be on the lookout for discretionary accounts controlled by research subjects that are outside of the normal budgeting process, even if they are ostensibly allocated for other purposes.

A fascinating story in last week’s New York Times discusses the release of years old CIA cables and reports that are being put to use in Argentina as prosecutors pursue cases related to that country’s “Dirty War.” The release of the records illustrates the unique role that the National Security Archive plays in using the FOIA to force the release and declassification of government records. The National Security Archive has filed over 60,000 FOIA requests - including numerous FOIA request related to the “Dirty War” beginning in 2002 - and forced the release of millions of pages of previously classified records in service of its mission to “check rising government secrecy.”

The practice of civil asset forfeiture has drawn increased scrutiny in the U.S. in recent years, with increasing pressure from the public to reign in misuse of the practice.  There are few transparency requirements for most state and federal civil forfeiture laws and researchers should be aware that in many cases the only way to obtain information about how asset forfeiture funds are spent is through public records requests.

President Trump’s presumptive nominee to the Federal Reserve Board, Stephen Moore, has faced a series of scandals related to the release of public records that threatens to derail his nomination.  Moore’s recent troubles illustrate the importance of properly vetting appointments before they are announced and exposed to public scrutiny.  There were proactive steps that Moore could have been taken in advance to mitigate damage to his reputation or protect his privacy, however he was forced to take reactionary steps because he was unprepared.

The rules and regulations regarding transparency in special counsel investigations have received heightened scrutiny in recent days.  The current federal regulations stipulate that special counsels are required to produce a full report to the attorney general at the end of an investigation, which is confidential, and the attorney general must then provide Congress with a brief report that explains the conclusions. Whether the full report is released publicly is at the discretion of the attorney general, however several FOIA lawsuits are seeking to compel disclosure of records related to the recent Mueller investigation.

C-SPAN turned 40 today. The network is an invaluable resource for researchers, with almost 250,000 hours of video content.  Video content is indexed by a number of different factors including speaker name, type of event (forum, debate, task force, etc.), as well as any number of user-selected search terms and modifiers.  Content searches can also be limited by date.

This week is Sunshine Week, which calls attention to the importance of open government, under the premise that government functions best when it operates in the open.  Sunshine Week is celebrated every year in mid-March, scheduled to coincide with James Madison's birthday on March 16th, which is also National Freedom of Information Day.  The American Society of News Editors and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press host a website – sunshineweek.org – that includes a toolkit of free resources, a vault with resources from prior years and a FOI in Action page that includes FOIA resources.   

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a measure this week that required California Charter schools and the entities that manage them to comply with the California Public Records Act and required them to ensure that members of the public can access their board meetings. The legislation also requires Charter school board members to be bound by the same ethical responsibilities and rules governing conflicts of interest as public school board members.