A former Marine print-photojournalist, former State Department Public Diplomacy Officer, former U.S. Air Force Supervisory Public Affairs Specialist, former USACE Public Web Lead & former Denny's waitress
(4) To improve the ability of the Government to achieve
agency missions and program performance goals.
(5) To promote the use of the Internet and emerging
technologies within and across Government agencies to provide
citizen-centric Government information and services.
(6) To reduce costs and burdens for businesses and other
Government entities.
(7) To promote better informed decisionmaking by policy
makers.
(8) To promote access to high quality Government information
and services across multiple channels.
(9) To make the Federal Government more transparent and
accountable.
(10) To transform agency operations by utilizing, where
appropriate, best practices from public and private sector
organizations.
(11) To provide enhanced access to Government information
and services in a manner consistent with laws regarding
protection of personal privacy, national security, records
retention, access for persons with disabilities, and other
relevant laws.
Government websites are required bylaw to be mobile friendly
This Act may be cited as the ``Connected Government Act''.
SEC. 2. FEDERAL WEBSITES REQUIRED TO BE MOBILE FRIENDLY.
(a) Amendment.--Subchapter II of chapter 35 of title 44, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 3559. <<NOTE: 44 USC 3559.>> Federal websites required to
be mobile friendly
``(a) <<NOTE: Time period.>> In General.--If, on or after the date
that is 180 days after the date of the enactment of this section, an
agency creates a website that is intended for use by the public or
conducts a redesign of an existing legacy website that is intended for
use by the public, the agency shall ensure to the greatest extent
practicable that the website is mobile friendly.
``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Agency.--The term `agency' has the meaning given that
term in section 551 of title 5.
``(2) Mobile friendly.--The term `mobile friendly' means,
with respect to a website, that the website is configured in
such a way that the website may be navigated, viewed, and
accessed on a smartphone, tablet computer, or similar mobile
device.''.
SEC. 601. REQUIREMENT FOR DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL SPONSORSHIP OF ALL FEDERAL ADVERTISING OR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS. (a) Requirement.—Except as provided for in subsection (b), each advertisement or other communication paid for by an agency, either directly or through a contract awarded by the agency, shall include a prominent notice informing the target audience that the advertisement or other communication is paid for by that agency. (b) Exceptions.—The requirement in subsection (a) shall not apply to an advertisement or other communication— (1) that is 200 characters or less; or (2) that is distributed through a short message service. (c) Advertisement Or Other Communications Defined.—In this section, the term “advertisement or other communication” includes— (1) an advertisement disseminated in any form, including print or by any electronic means; and (2) a communication by an individual in any form, including speech, print, or by any electronic means.
Budgets and Budget justification
SEC. 603. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF BUDGET JUSTIFICATIONS AND APPROPRIATION REQUESTS.
(a) In General.—Section 3 of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (31 U.S.C. 6101 note) is amended to read as follows:
“SEC. 3. FULL DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL FUNDS.
“(a) In General.—Not less frequently than monthly when practicable, and in any event not less frequently than quarterly, the Secretary (in consultation with the Director and, with respect to information described in subsection (b)(2), the head of the applicable Federal agency) shall ensure that updated information with respect to the information described in subsection (b) is posted on the website established under section 2.
“(b) Information To Be Posted.—
“(1) FUNDS.—For any funds made available to or expended by a Federal agency or component of a Federal agency, the information to be posted shall include—
“(A) for each appropriations account, including an expired or unexpired appropriations account, the amount—
“(i) of budget authority appropriated;
“(ii) that is obligated;
“(iii) of unobligated balances; and
“(iv) of any other budgetary resources;
“(B) from which accounts and in what amount—
“(i) appropriations are obligated for each program activity; and
“(ii) outlays are made for each program activity;
“(C) from which accounts and in what amount—
“(i) appropriations are obligated for each object class; and
“(ii) outlays are made for each object class; and
“(D) for each program activity, the amount—
“(i) obligated for each object class; and
“(ii) of outlays made for each object class.
“(2) BUDGET JUSTIFICATIONS.—
“(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph—
“(i) the term ‘agency’ has the meaning given that term in section 101 of title 31, United States Code; and
“(ii) the term ‘budget justification materials’ means the annual budget justification materials of an agency that are submitted to Congress in support of the budget of the agency, in conjunction with the budget of the United States Government submitted under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, but does not include budget justification materials that are classified.
“(B) INFORMATION.—The information to be posted shall include the budget justification materials of each agency—
“(i) for the second fiscal year beginning after the date of enactment of this paragraph, and each fiscal year thereafter; and
“(ii) to the extent practicable, that were released for any fiscal year before the date of enactment of this paragraph.
“(C) FORMAT.—Budget justification materials shall be posted under subparagraph (B)—
“(i) in an open format machine readable and text searchable;
“(ii) in a manner that enables users to download individual reports, download all reports in bulk, and download in bulk the results of a search, to the extent practicable; and
“(iii) in a structured data format, to the extent practicable.
“(D) DEADLINE.—The budget justification materials required to be posted under subparagraph (B)(i) shall be posted not later than 2 weeks after the date on which the budget justification materials are first submitted to Congress.
SEC. 604. IMPROVING RULEMAKING DISCLOSURE FOR THE OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS.
(a) Inclusion In The Rulemaking Docket Of Documents And Communications Related To The Implementation Of Centralized Regulatory Review.—As soon as practicable, and not later than 15 days after the conclusion of centralized regulatory review for a draft proposed or draft final rule, the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs shall include in the rulemaking docket the following:
(1) A copy of the draft proposed or draft final rule and supporting analyses submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review.
(2) A copy of the draft proposed or draft final rule that incorporates substantive changes, if any, made to the rule as part of implementing centralized regulatory review.
(3) A document describing in a complete, clear, and simple manner all substantive changes made by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to the draft proposed or draft final rule submitted by the agency to Office for review.
(4) A copy of all documents and written communications (including all electronic mail and electronic mail file attachments), and a summary of all oral communications (including phone calls, phone conferences, and meetings), exchanged as part of the implementation of the centralized regulatory review between or among any of the following:
(A) The agency responsible for the rule.
(B) The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
(C) Any other office or entity within the Executive Office of the President.
(D) An agency that is not the agency responsible for the rule.
(E) An individual who is not employed by—
(i) the executive branch of the Federal Government; or
(ii) an agency that is not the agency responsible for the rule.
(b) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) CENTRALIZED REGULATORY REVIEW.—The term “centralized regulatory review” means the institutional process of Presidential oversight of individual agency rules governed by Executive Order 12866 (58 Fed. Reg. 51735; relating to regulatory planning and review), or any successor to such Executive order.
(2) RULE.—The term “rule” has the meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
(c) Rule Of Construction.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to preempt or displace the disclosure requirements under any other provision of law affecting administrative procedure, if such requirements are not inconsistent with the requirements of this section.
(c) Publication Of Information Categorized Using Government-Wide Entity Identifier.—Each agency shall, to the extent practicable, publish all public regulatory, procurement, assistance, and other reported information categorized using the unique entity identifier required under this section.
I haven’t yet seen any news reports or research or thought leadership books by techies about the impact of smart speakers on the fundamental structure of our social fabric. I think Alexa is a technical revolution as radical as Gutenberg’s press.
In 1436, Johaness Gutenberg, a German goldsmith, created the printing press. Before then, all texts had to be laboriously copied by hand. Corresponding this critical new technology, born in Eisleben, Germany, in 1483, Martin Luther disrupted religion by translating the Bible and removing control from the hands of the clergy. Since that time, the ability to read text on paper has largely determined economic potential and earning capability in the job market.
Right now, in 2018, there remain some 20% of the world’s population who are illiterate. Others born or who later became blind or severely sight impaired have also been limited in their economic potential due to their inability to access information.
Alexa and other technologies like her, Siri and Google Home, but more importantly, the computing power that has made text to speech and speech to text capability possible will make reading letters on paper altogether irrelevant with regard to accessing information.
I read a book by Microsoft MVP Ben Clothier who explained how to integrate Access and Sharepoint nearly 10 years ago. He seemed at that time to be the only person in the world who knew how to do what we wanted to do with our information. I reached out to him on the web and he said he worked for a consulting firm. I reached out to them and contracted him to help our project. I also contracted two American sign language translators because this brilliant expert was severely hearing impaired and had very limited sight. I offered to pick him up from his home on my way to work, because I learned from a tour at the Lighthouse for the Blind that getting to work every day is one of the biggest challenges in a car culture like ours for sight-impaired professionals.
Centuries or even decades ago, Ben would never have been able to access all the knowledge that put him at the top of his specialty. While limited options were available, like braille, few of the worlds books were available in braille. Because of the digital revolution, information is now available to almost anyone and the final wall is coming down with voice user interface.
At the end of this holiday season, some 50% of American homes will have a smart speaker. Amazon’s website likens it to Star Trek ship communication technology. Ease of use has never been more fluid. No manual required. Even my two-year old can activate Alexa, although she has yet to correctly format a request to get a response. Alexa’s ring turns blue, delighting my toddler when she says, “Alexa.” Amazon just announced Alexa is available in Mexico.
Once this technology is available worldwide and once the world is online, Gutenberg will finally be truly just a note in the history books. The world he created of text will no longer determine one individual’s economic potential by serving as the only path to knowledge and information and ultimately professional expertise.
I have long loved books, and I will miss Gutenberg dearly. Still I can see that Alexa joins the Internet as the most powerful flattening forces of my lifetime.
35-Year Public Affairs & IT Professional 