U.S. City Open Data Census
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A complete suite of lobbying data should include information about registration and activity — who is paying lobbyists and, ideally, how much and where money is spent.
For the purposes of the U.S. City Open Data Census, lobbyist activity data should include structured information from the registration and activity reports that lobbyists are required to file: lobbyist information, client information, and descriptions of lobbying activity. Public access to this data is essential for the public to gain insight into the world of municipal influence.
Note: In some cities lobbyist registration data will be seperate from lobbyist activity data.
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| Question | Answer | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Openly licensed | No | No licensing information is available. |
| Available in bulk | Yes | You can open and download a pdf of the current list of registered lobbyists. |
| Up-to-date | Yes | Lists are available for each year. The current list of lobbyists was updated within the last month. |
| Available free online | Yes | |
| Available free of charge | Yes | |
| In an open format | Only available in PDF | |
| findable | 2 | |
| findable_steps | Googled Baltimore Lobbying Data, then googled Baltimore Open Data, then googled Baltimore City Clerk, and eventually found the Ethics Department through the Baltimore City website | |
| Collected by government | Yes | |
| usability | 1 | |
| collector_name | Baltimore Ethics Board | |
| characteristics | Lobbyist registration information — including name, contact information, and date of registration | Limited information about clients (name only) is available. |
| location | - https://ethics.baltimorecity.gov/lobbyist-registration-lists |