Reinvent Albany's Rachael Fauss recommends records retention and influencer disclosure bills
Rachael Fauss of Reinvent Albany asks the Council to pass legislation clarifying that all electronic communications creating a public record, including instant messages, be archived and retrievable by FOIL officers, and to advance an influencer disclosure bill modeled on FTC rules through the contracting process.
Good afternoon.
Thanks for the opportunity to testify.
My name is Rachel Foss.
I'm the Senior Policy Advisor for Reinvent Albany.
We advocate for transparent and accountable government in New York.
I'm going to just run through our basic recommendations, and I might spend a little more time on the records issue.
So first, we ask the council to pass legislation clarifying that all electronic communications that results in the creation of a public record, including instant messages, be archived and easily retrievable by agency FOIL officers.
I'll talk a little bit more about the draft bill we put together.
Second, the council should move forward with a new influencer disclosure bill modeled after current FTC rules.
And this should be done through the city contracting process rather than some of the means outlined in the legislation today.