Hertzberg Holds Hearing in Los Angeles to Examine Data Collected by Local Governments

Here is a clear and timely press release from the office of California State Senator Bob Hertzberg, who represents the San Fernando Valley in Sacramento, and who authored SB 272, the Local Government Open Data Act, which he is now trying to see followed throughout the state:

Hertzberg Holds Hearing in Los Angeles to Examine Data Collected by Local Governments

SB 272, the Local Government Open Data Act, went into effect on July 1, but not all local agencies are following it

  

WHAT: The Senate Subcommittee on Modernizing Government, chaired by Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, will hold a hearing on Friday to examine compliance with SB 272, the Local Government Open Data Act, which requires local agencies to create a catalog of the enterprise software systems they use to collect and maintain public information and to make that catalog public. This hearing will also explore how the information in these catalogs can improve government cooperation and efficiency, and create opportunity for innovative new products and services benefitting all Californians.  

WHO: Sen. Bob Hertzberg

Quentin Wilson, Project Manager, Public Performance Improvement

            Robb Korinke, Principal, Grassroots Lab

Patrick Atwater, Project Manager, California Data Collaborative

Matthew Barrett, Manager for Policy Research and Library Services, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Lilian Coral, Chief Data Officer, Office of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti

Dane Hutchings, Legislative Representative, League of Cities

Mike Pettit, Chief Information Officer, County of Ventura

Dave Maass, Investigative Researcher, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Frank Ury, Mayor of Mission Viejo

Dillon Gibbons, Legislative Representative, California Special Districts Association

WHEN: 11 a.m., Friday, October 7, 2016

WHERE: California Endowment Building, 1000 N. Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

NOTE: If you cannot attend the hearing, you can watch it stream live on Sen. Hertzberg’s website: http://sd18.senate.ca.gov/

Note also the diverse and high-powered roster of officials being brought together under Senator Hertzberg’s leadership to participate in this forum, which should therefore mean that real progress on the issues involved can be facilitated by their sharing of their experiences with open data at the local government level.  Live streaming will make the group’s public deliberations open to the public, who stand to be the main beneficiaries of the “innovative new products and services benefitting all Californians” promised by this legislation.

Defense Innovation Board meets and makes 11 recommendations

As it said it would in a recent Etopia News article here, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) today held a meeting of the elite Defense Innovation Board and announced the group’s 11 interim recommendations to Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

You can read the official government press release about this here.

Not surprisingly, coming from a Board chaired by Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, the 11 recommendations contained several that called for initiatives relating to the use of  computers, including:

-- Establish a career track for computer science and a digital Reserve Officer’s Training Corps program.

-- Establish an institute for studying artificial intelligence and machine learning

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-- Establish a computer science resource --·a "human cloud" of computer programmers and software developers who are available on demand to swiftly solve software problems.

Secretary Carter concluded the meeting by telling the assembled audience:

“I'm grateful to these citizen-leader-innovators for taking the time from their busy schedules to do this. I don't take it for granted for your selfless willingness to contribute to the defense of our nation, and make a better world for our children.”

Kansas Senator Jerry Moran expresses support for the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS) today told Etopia News why he introduced and continues to support the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act, which would grant the renewable energy industry the same tax benefits currently enjoyed by their fossil-fuel counterparts, saying:

“Expanding master limited partnerships enables us to strengthen our economy and grow our energy infrastructure. We’ve seen MLPs’ success over the years in encouraging private investment in the kind of all-of-the-above energy strategy we must pursue to drive innovation and create American jobs.”

The Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act would, if passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama, designate renewable energy production as a “qualifying activity” under the terms of I.R.C. 7704(d)(1)(E) and would thereby allow for the creation of Master Limited Partnerships based on renewable energy production, allowing IPOs for this class of limited partnerships and allowing them to pass through payments to investors without the need to first pay corporate income tax.