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VPAP Featuring Lobbyist Disclosures

The Virginia Public Access Project has a brilliant new feature?lobbyist disclosures. They’re connecting the dots between companies, the lobbyists who they hire, and the bills that those lobbyists are trying to influence. For instance, twelve organizations hired lobbyists to influence the outcome of this cigarette fire-safety bill, including the Virginia Fire Chiefs’ Association and S&M Brands (a Virginia-based cigarette maker). The Virginia Fire Chiefs hired one lobbyist to shepherd dozens of bills, while S&M hired three lobbyists for seven bills. VPAP is shining some sunlight on a crucial link in the connection between money and politics in Virginia.

Richmond Sunlight on Twitter and Facebook

A big Richmond Sunlight fan? Keep up with our latest updates and improvements on Twitter or become a fan of Richmond Sunlight on Facebook. We’ll be using each to provide updates on the goings-on of the General Assembly and the new features of Richmond Sunlight in more detail and with greater frequency than a more casual political observer might care for. Sign up today!

Review Government Oversight

The General Assembly has their very own government audit organization, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), which is producing reports that you might just be interested in. JLARC exists to study the effectiveness of state government, and routinely publishes reports at the request of the General Assembly. Their most recent reports are on all sorts of interesting topics, including requiring insurance companies to cover autism treatment, concerns about the accuracy of the voter registration system, making preschool available for free as a part of the state public education system, state spending on meeting Standards of Quality for K-12 education, and even an annual study of state spending increases. Some studies are specific and timely, like their recent investigation into VCU awarding a degree to a former Richmond police chief despite that he hadn’t earned it. The fact that you’re reading Richmond Sunlight means that you’ll almost certainly find something well worth reading over at JLARC.

Prefiling is Underway

Although the General Assembly doesn’t convene for almost three months, bills are being prefiled by members of the house and the senate already. In addition to the 317 bills carried over from this year’s session, dozens have already been filed, with hundreds more trickling in over the six weeks, when the flood will begin. You can track them as they come in on Richmond Sunlight.

Richmond Sunlight Labs

Here’s one for the programmers: we’ve established Richmond Sunlight Labs. This is a section of the website where we can test out new features before they’re promoted on the rest of the website. Right now we’re letting people play with XML for legislators, so that web applications can gather real-time data about members of the General Assembly. And we’ve got a few other things under development that will be available in Labs in the coming months.