At a recent technology conference, Representative John Culberson found a vendor that could post legislation online and allow readers to comment. The company is SharedBook.com. Rep Culberson (R-TX) used the company to post health care legislation on his congressional website.
I am pleased to mention that Culberson is my district Representative in Washington, D.C. For now, only his constituents can read the legislation on his site. We enter our zip code and can then also comment, if we so wish.
I was happy to see this write-up in the Washington Times, by Amanda Carpenter, yet not surprised. Culberson is known as a tech-savvy elected official. He leads in the use of cutting edge technology to stay connected with constituents. He frequently uses teleconference calls to stay in touch with those in his district - his office dials the household and the invitation is extended to participate with him. He uses Twitter, Facebook, he live streams conference calls, etc.
Posting this legislation is costly, as the article points out. "It's fairly expensive to do, about $3,000, and I'm doing it out of my office budget," he said. He is planning to do the same for the cap and trade legislation and recently released memos from the Dept of Treasury explaining the costs of that bill.
Rep. Culberson is leading the way in transparency today with legislation affecting all of us.
2 comments:
Hi! The Times reporter got the company name wrong, but later corrected it. "SharedBook" is enabling the Congressman's initiative - see www.sharedbook.com
Thanks! I'll make the correction.
Post a Comment