James Shiffer (of the Star Tribune’s “Full Disclosure” column, as well as the MNCOGI board) uses his Sunday column to list the open government “wins” of the 2015 legislative session. These include increased transparency measures for police surveillance equipment, as well as the rejection of bills that would have made certain body camera data, birth record data, and police incident data “not public.” MNCOGI testified on all of these issues over the course of the session. We will soon be posting our 2015 testimony and realted documentation in the “policy” section of our blog. We use that portion of our site as a year-by-year archive of transparency issues that have arisen at the capitol.
MNCOGI notes that the legislative actions highlighed above were due to bi-partisan support from key, transparency-minded legislators, including Reps. Peggy Scott and John Lesch, as well as Senators Branden Petersen, Warren Limmer, Scott Dibble, and many others in both houses. Our thanks go out to all who have supported the cause of government transparency in Minnesota.