7 years later, San Jose open-government reforms become law

Capping seven years of work, San Jose officials have adopted a slew of sunshine reforms meant to keep City Hall more open. The vast majority of the 80 or so policies have been in place for the past several years but are only now set to become law following a unanimous vote from the San Jose City Council on Tuesday. By setting the reforms into law, it binds future city leaders to follow the same guidelines used by the current administration.

But there were also some changes that slightly water down the rules, and critics again bemoaned that the council failed to adopt some of the recommendations made by the task force billed with reforming the city's open government policies.

The ordinance brings Mayor Chuck Reed's "Reed Reforms" full circle after he ran on an open government platform in 2006 following scandals from previous mayor Ron Gonzales. Reed, who is termed out of office at the end of the year. Continue>>>
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