"Let the Sunshine In," by Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.): A Freedom of Information Act request by CBS News uncovered the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s prior knowledge of toxic levels of formaldehyde in trailers provided to nearly 150,000 hurricane-affected families. An earlier FOIA request revealed how the Bush administration turned away a billion dollars of international assistance. Thousands of e-mails illustrating the federal bureaucracy’s incompetence in the days following the catastrophe only came to light after journalists engaged FOIA’s requirements. But such FOIA requests are met far too infrequently. Flawed decision-making is too often shrouded by an apparent philosophy that “what the public doesn’t know can’t hurt us.” More….

"A Ray of Hope on the Horizon For FOIA," by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. John Cornyn, (R-Texas): As the recent legislative success with the OPEN Government Act shows us, open government is not a Democratic issue or a Republican issue. It is an American value and a virtue that all Americans can embrace. Sunshine Week gives us the chance to celebrate our successes, and evaluate the challenges that lie ahead as we work to further strengthen laws to protect the public’s right to know. To hold our government truly accountable, we must shine light on the decisions being made in the name of the American people. With the first major reforms to FOIA in more than a decade now under its belt, Congress must do everything within its power to continue to make sure that one of our most important open government laws is fully and faithfully enforced, so that we can let the sun shine on the most important actions of our government. More ….

"A Reporters' Shield Law: The Public's Right to Know Hangs in the Balance," by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.): Action is needed to protect the promise of confidentiality between reporters and their sources from this unprecedented series of federal government challenges. The public's right to know hangs in the balance because if the identity of sources is not protected, many matters of public importance will not become known. Public corruption and corporate misdeeds will go uncorrected. More ….

"Open Government is Good Government," By Gov. Charlie Crist, (R-Fla.): Sunshine Week celebrates the people's right to access the records and proceedings of their government and continue a centuries-old tradition of public access in America. Some might say that the need to safeguard the public's right to be informed about their government is no longer as important today as it was to Madison and his contemporaries. I would argue that the mandate of government agencies to be stewards of the public trust has not changed. In fact, the standard may be higher. More….

"The Next President Should Open Up the Bush Administration's Record," By Steven Aftergood, director, Project on Government Secrecy, Federation of American Scientists, Washington: The next president will have the authority to declassify and disclose any and all records that reflect the activities of executive branch agencies. Although internal White House records that document the activities of the outgoing president and his personal advisers will be exempt from disclosure for a dozen years or so, every Bush administration decision that was actually translated into policy will have left a documentary trail in one or more of the agencies, and all such records could be disclosed at the discretion of the next president. More….

"El Derecho de Acceso a la Información, la Provisión de Servicios Públicos y el Pleno Goce de los Derechos Econónicos, Sociales y Culturales " por Article XIX: El derecho de información es un derecho fundamental reconocido en el Artículo 19 de la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos; es considerado como un componente esencial de la libertad de expresión y es además un derecho facultativo para la exigencia y el pleno goce de otros derechos humanos, tales como los derechos económicos, sociales y culturales (DESC). Más….

"Access to Judicial Information: International Trends," by Eduardo Bertoni, director, Due Process of Law Foundation, Washington: Since 2002, countries in Latin America enacted a wave of freedom of information (FOI) laws. Although, there were some existing national laws that attempted to promote greater transparency, it was not until the beginning of this century that a more concerted effort was made throughout the hemisphere to make information available to the public. More….

"Questioning the Government is Not Unpatriotic," by Chris Fetterman, student, Bloomsburg University: On Dec. 16, 2005, The New York Times published an article which shed light on the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. Immediately following the publication, there were numerous outcries from political pundits on both sides of the spectrum. More….

"Government Secrecy: Myths vs. Reality," by Robert J. Freeman, executive director, New York State Committee on Open Government, Albany: Remember: When you hear or read statements from a government officials indicating that the matter can’t be disclosed because it's a personnel matter, it's in litigation, it's under investigation, or because it's confidential, often what they're really saying is that they don't want to disclose, even though they can or, in some circumstances, they must. More….

"El Habeas Data en México," por Dra. Myrna Elia García Barrera, Directora Técnica de la Comisión de Acceso a la Información Pública del Estado de Nuevo León: El Habeas Data es una de las garantías constitucionales más modernas, aunque se le denomine mitad en latín y mitad en inglés. Su nombre se ha tomado parcialmente del antiguo instituto del Habeas Corpus, y su primer vocablo significa "conserva o guarda tu…" y el segundo proviene del inglés "data," sustantivo plural que significa "información o datos." En síntesis, en una traducción literal sería "conserva o guarda tus datos." Más….

" Afectación a la Intimidad por la Recopilación de Información en Bancos o Bases de Datos," por Dra. Myrna Elia García Barrera, Directora Técnica de la Comisión de Acceso a la Información Pública del Estado de Nuevo León: La intimidad, entendida como una esfera del individuo en la que éste puede desenvolverse sin sufrir injerencia de ninguna especie, es un derecho personalísimo que ha evolucionado a través del tiempo; ahora en esta nueva sociedad informacional, el derecho a la intimidad protege una zona espiritual íntima, o sea, un reducto personal y privado frente a posibles agresiones exteriores y frente al conocimiento de los demás, y debe ser garantizado por un poder jurídico sobre la información relativa a una persona o a su familia, imponiendo a terceros y a los propios poderes públicos la obligación de que dichas personas manifiesten su voluntad de no dar a conocer dicha información o, mejor dicho, prohibiendo la difusión de una información no consentida. Más….

"Campus Crime Information is Vital to Keeping Students Safe," by Adam Goldstein, attorney advocate, Student Press Law Center, Arlington, Va.: Universities receiving federal funding are presented with a fine line to walk when it comes to opening and providing their records. On the one hand, colleges have a mandate to protect student privacy; on the other hand, campus crime information must be made available to the student body. There is little room for error between these two obligations, because both are designed to protect the safety of students. More….

"The Light at the End of the Tunnel: the Outlook for FOI," by Jane E. Kirtley, Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota: Right or wrong, for better or worse, the tenure of this administration is coming to an end. Later this year, a national election will determine who will decide the future of FOI. Those who care about open government are hoping that the candidates will commit themselves to an agenda that will reject the directives, policies, and practices that have turned the executive branch into a virtual bunker of impenetrable secrecy, and reopen it to public scrutiny. It is always risky to speculate about how a particular candidate will address these issues once he or she is in office. On the hustings, no candidate is against open government. Words like “accountability” and “transparency” may pepper their speeches. And, as they utter them, they may even believe them. More….

"The Founding Fathers' Papers: The Ultimate National Treasure," By David McCullough, presidential historian and author: The value of the Papers of Founding Fathers goes far beyond their scholarly importance, immense as that is. These papers are American scripture. They are our political faith, the free and open exchange of ideas, the often brilliant expressions of some of the most fertile minds, the greatest statesmen, patriots, and seers in our history. No one body of private and public correspondence, official papers and pronouncements, tell us more about that founding time, or more about who we are and what we hold dear. More….

"Public Inspection and Information Transparency: A Task for Only a Few," by Paulo Rebêlo, political reporter, Diario de Pernambuco, Brazil: The recent accusations in Brazil about corporate credit cards, being used to pay private and sometime unknown expenses of government officials and employees, including ministers and the president itself, reassured not only the legacy of a tiny transparency in the public budget, but, more than that, the hardness to access public information nationwide. More….

"The Founding Fathers' Papers: Ensuring Public Access to our National Treasurers," by Rebecca W. Rimel, president and CEO, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia: The Founding Fathers' correspondence and other documents are an invaluable record of what happened during the seminal decades of our nation…. Indeed, completing the effort to publish the writings of the Founding Fathers and ensuring that they are made readily available to every American — and people around the world — are vital to understanding our past and to navigating our future. More….

"Freedom of Information: From Millions to Billions," by Alasdair Roberts, author and professor of public administration, Maxwell School, Syracuse University: Since 2001, almost 30 other countries have adopted U.S.-style Freedom of Information laws, which provide citizens with a right to government documents. Among the most recent adopters are the two most populous countries on earth: India and China. The right to information, once known only to the millions living in wealthy democracies, is being extended to billions of the world's poor. More ….

The new edition of "Bright Ideas for Sunshine Week," the annual collection of examples from the prior Sunshine Week, is now online.

The collection from Sunshine Week 2006 features a variety of news and opinion from print, broadcast and online outlets, photos from events, creative graphic presentations, examples of student work and, new to this edition, The Big Picture, which shows how several newspapers incorporated Sunshine Week into print and online packages.

In addition to showcasing the myriad ways open government was celebrated in 2006, Bright Ideas is designed to be a source of ideas for participation in Sunshine Week 2007, March 11-17.

Also online: "Bright Ideas for Sunshine Week 2006."

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