New online tool will help public easily see lobbyist connections to bills
SACRAMENTO — Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a new online search tool Wednesday that he said will open up the way the California Legislature does business and radically transform state politics “from a world of promises to a world of participation.”
Newsom, a Democrat, joined former Republican state Sen. Sam Blakeslee and open-government advocates in announcing the launch of Digital Democracy, an online search engine that is now live which allows the public to hone in on specific bills or keywords, such as looking for all references in Legislative hearings to the controversial vaccine bill currently being weighed by lawmakers.
The site also puts several online tools in one place, including campaign contributions, conflict of interest filings and voting records of lawmakers. The site will also open up the world of lobbying in a way not seen before by identifying their comments at legislative hearings, tracking them back to their employers and showing who their clients are.
While much of the information is already available online through a myriad of different websites, Digital Democracy also digitizes transcripts of what was said during hearings, allows a user to tie those comments back to the video clip and to easily share it through social networking.
“Not surprisingly, some people are concerned,” said Newsom, who added that Capitol insiders expressed concern about the site. “There is this stale air of normalcy and this is about the fresh air of progress. Sunlight is a disinfectant of sorts. There is a large persuasion industry in Sacramento. That’s not necessarily a headline. Folks are used to operating with traditional principals and this is about a wake up call. It’s about making government as efficient as Google.”
Digital Democracy was developed by students at the Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy at California Polytechnic State University and is supported through one-year grants — $1.2 million grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation in Texas and the Rita Allen Foundation in New Jersey.
DigitalDemocracy.org currently includes legislative hearings from January until April and will eventually include all hearings broadcast by Cal Channel through the end of the Legislative session.
“What’s really cool about this is we are creating a categorically new tool that doesn’t exist today,” said Blakelee, who is founding director for the Cal Poly institute that developed the site. “It’s easy to complain about government not being transparent. What’s exciting about this tool is we are doing something about it.”
Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com
