Open Data Policy

Transparency In Action

The Department of Information Services annually presents an Open Data Policy Report to the Metropolitan Council, as mandated by the City-Parish’s Open Data Policy. This report outlines local successes in open data over the past year and gives an overview of planned efforts for coming year that will build upon these successes.

The Information Services Department strives to inform and educate the public about available new datasets and how to use the platforms. If you have any questions about our ongoing work to achieve the requirements outlined within this policy, please email our Open Data BR Program Team at opendata@brla.gov.

Background

In December 2017, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and the Metropolitan Council unanimously approved Resolution 53275 that established, for the first time, a formal open data policy for our City-Parish government; it has spurred an unprecedented level of transparency among our local government agencies.

The development of this policy and corresponding resolution approved in December 2017 was guided by the Sunlight Foundation, a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., focused on promoting transparency in government agencies, as part of the City-Parish’s participation in Bloomberg Philanthropy’s What Works Cities program.

As part of this process, Sunlight Foundation subject matter experts worked with internal City-Parish technology and legal staff to develop a draft policy that was subsequently refined and finalized based on public feedback received through a crowdlaw process. In addition, the What Works Cities team interviewed several stakeholders representing key users of City-Parish data working in software development, higher education, business and industry, and media, with those comments incorporated into the refined policy document in addition to those submitted via crowdlaw.

With the passage and ongoing implementation of this policy, the City-Parish now operates under an “open by default” mandate for all data managed or driven by local government operations. Mayor-President Broome has tasked the Department of Information Services with the implementation of the policy, which is supported by a robust administrative handbook designed to help City-Parish departments, staff, and partners understand how to comply with the requirements outlined within this open data policy while achieving all the benefits associated with an active open data program that extends across all facets of local government operations.