Sunshine Week Inspiration & Resources from Muck Rock

In honor of Sunshine Week, here are some resources from muckrock.com that will help you track government transparency and accountability.

The first is a new microsite that, every time you refresh, gives you a new way that public records can be used to shed light on government, including a summary of what can be requested, a link to a sample request, and reporting that was made possible by this type of request. It was a volunteer, open source effort:

http://www.muck.rocks

You can also submit new ideas to include in the database here:

https://www.muckrock.com/assignment/submit-your-foia-suggestion-122/

Here's a guide to state-by-state data available, including Oklahoma. Feel free to sue this to see how Oklahoma law stacks up or want to compare response times in different jurisdictions.

And here are roundups of important stories told via FOIA this year:

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2019/mar/11/heavy-hitting-national-reporting/

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2019/mar/11/state-level-stories-that-made-an-impact/

And here's analysis of the current state of FOIA:

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2019/mar/11/sunshine-week-feature-intro/

Sunshine Week is March 10-16!