Open Gov Foundation helps Baltimore become the nation's first Open Law City
Channel: Andrew Hazlett
Date: 17/07/2013

This week Sharon Paley and Andrew Hazlett of gb.tc sat down with Seamus Kraft and Chris Birk of the OpenGov Foundation (http://opengovfoundation.org/). They have been leaders in the national effort to make the political system accessible and accountable, but they have also focused a lot of energy on state and local government. Thanks to their work and our Mayor's Office of Information Technology, Baltimore can now call itself the nation's first "Open Law City." The city's legal code is now online at BaltimoreCode.org. According to the OpenGov Foundation team, the website "lifts and 'liberates' the Baltimore City Charter and Code from unalterable, often hard to find online files —such as PDFs—by inserting them into user-friendly, organized and modern website formats.  This straightforward switch delivers significant results:  more clarity, context, and public understanding of the laws' impact on Baltimore citizens' daily lives. For the first-time, BaltimoreCode.org allows uninhibited reuse of City law data by everyday Baltimore residents to use, share, and spread as they see fit. Simply, BaltimoreCode.org gives citizens the information they need, on their terms."