Legislative Data and Transparency Conference

The 2019 Legislative Data and Transparency Conference (#LDTC2019) was held on Thursday, October 17, in the Capitol Visitor Center. The conference brought individuals from Legislative branch agencies together with data users and transparency advocates to foster a conversation about the use of legislative data—addressing how non-profits, individuals, and public and private agencies use technology well and how they can use it better in the future. The conference was presented by the Committee on House Administration with support from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Bulk Data Task Force.

View the conference video.
View photos of the event.
Read the conference report.

Schedule of Events

Time	Event	Speaker
8:30	Registration and Networking Congressional Auditorium Atrium
9:30	Welcome Remarks Congressional Auditorium	Cheryl L. Johnson Clerk of the House
9:35	Member of Congress Guest Address	Representative Zoe Lofgren Chairperson, Committee on House Administration
9:45	Member of Congress Guest Address	Representative Rodney Davis Ranking Member, Committee on House Administration
9:50	General Remarks	Bob Reeves Deputy Clerk of the House
9:55	Overview of Transparency	Anne Washington Assistant Professor of Data Policy, New York University presentation slides
10:05	Bulk Data Task Force Panel	Bob Reeves Office of the Clerk
		Kirsten Gullickson Principle Analyst, Legislative Computer Systems, Office of the Clerk presentation slides
		Matt Landgraf Lead Program Planner, Government Publishing Office
		Lisa LaPlant Program Manager, govinfo, Government Publishing Office presentation slides
		Arin Shapiro Webmaster and Director of Web Technology, Office of the Secretary of the Senate, United States Senate presentation slides
		John Pollock Director, Legislative Information Systems Project, Office of the Secretary of the Senate, United States Senate
		Andrew Weber Congress.gov Product Owner, Library of Congress presentation slides
10:50	BREAK
11:00	Consensus Calendar and Managing Cosponsors	Kevin McCumber Acting Chief, Office of Legislative Operations, Office of the Clerk presentation slides
11:10	Transparency Meets Security Panel
		Moderator: Eric Mill Senior Technology Advisor, Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, Minority Staff
		Addie Adeniji Director of Information Assurance, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (HIR)
		Judith Conklin Deputy Chief Information Officer, Library of Congress
		Cameron Dixon Policy Technologist, U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency
		Arin Shapiro Office of the Secretary of the Senate
12:00	LUNCH
1:00	Networking with Legislative Staff Congressional Auditorium Atrium
1:30	Overview of Afternoon Agenda Congressional Auditorium	Andrew Weber Library of Congress
1:35	Lightning Talks	Opening Speaker: Steve Dwyer Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
		Robert Brammer Legal Information Specialist, Law Library of Congress presentation slides
		Daniel Schuman Policy Director, Demand Progress presentation slides
		Josh Tauberer Founder, GovTrack presentation slides
		Alex Kouts CEO, IndigovDecoding presentation slides
		Steven Kull Voice of the People and Common Ground Solutions presentation slides
		Patrick Kalie Federal Customer Success Manager, Quorum Analytics presentation slides
		Lisa Sherman Chief of Staff, Office of Representative Susan A. Davis presentation slides
		Joel Rothstein CEO, Markup.Law
2:15	Member of Congress Guest Address	Representative Derek Kilmer Chair, Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress presentation slides
		Representative Tom Graves Vice Chair, Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress
2:30	Vision of the Future Panel	Kirsten Gullickson Office of the Clerk
		Lisa Sherman Chief of Staff, Office of Representative Susan A. Davis
		Marci Harris Founder, POPVOX LegiDash
		Michael S. Twinchek Clerk, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Majority Staff
		Steve Dwyer Office of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
		Lorelei Kelly Director of Congressional Modernization, Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, Georgetown University
		Beth Simone Noveck Founder and Director of The Governance Lab and Professor at New York University presentation slides
3:20	Breakout Session
4:10	Closing Remarks	Whitney Wyszynski Content and Multimedia Producer, Office of Communications, Office of the Clerk

Speaker Biographies

Speaker Photograph	Biography
	Addie Adeniji Director of Information Assurance, Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (HIR) Addie Adeniji directs risk management and audit compliance efforts across the House. She oversees cybersecurity standards and process development. Addie also works with House staff to identify, evaluate, and report risks to ensure the House maintains a strengthened security risk posture. Her areas of interest include privacy and the cloud as it relates to security.
	Judith Conklin Deputy Chief Information Officer, Library of Congress Judith Conklin has worked for almost 23 years at the Library of Congress. She previously worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, Raytheon, and AT&T and served on active duty in the U.S. Army and as a reservist. She is a certified information-systems security professional (CISSP) and certified information-security manager (CISM), and she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
	Representative Rodney Davis Ranking Member, Committee on House Administration Rodney Davis was elected to the House in 2012 after serving as Projects Director for Congressman John Shimkus for 16 years. He represents the Thirteenth Congressional District of Illinois, an urban and rural district covering central and southwestern parts of the state. He serves on the Agriculture, House Administration, and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees. He graduated from Millikin University.
	Cameron Dixon Policy Technologist, U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency Cameron Dixon works to improve information security practices in U.S.-based government organizations, particularly those using the .gov top-level domain. His efforts focus on web encryption, email authentication, and DNS security best practices. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a master’s degree from Syracuse University.
	Steve Dwyer Senior Policy Advisor, Office of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer Steve Dwyer has worked in a Congressional leadership office for more than 16 years. He has applied his expertise in technology and digital communications to his policy, communications, and administrative responsibilities. Steve has designed, helped build, and managed numerous advanced digital systems for House Democrats, including an intranet and an iOS app. He is a graduate of Georgetown Law and the University of Vermont.
	Representative Tom Graves Vice Chair, Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress Tom Graves was elected to the House in 2010 after serving in the Georgia General Assembly and working as an entrepreneur and real estate investor. He represents the Fourteenth Congressional District of Georgia in the northwest of the state. He serves on the House Appropriations Committee and the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. He graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in finance.
	Kirsten Gullickson Principal Analyst, Legislative Computer Systems, Office of the Clerk Kirsten Gullickson works to help the House add a modern digital layer to its centuries old paper process. She leads the House’s Comparative Print project and serves as the House’s chair of the Legislative Branch XML Working Group, focusing on XML data standards and practices in Congress. Kirsten is a graduate of North Dakota State University and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).
	Marci Harris Founder, POPVOX LegiDash Marci Harris (JD, LLM) is CEO and co-founder of POPVOX. She previously served as Counsel for the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee chairman and has held fellowships at Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democracy and New America California. She currently serves on the technology and innovation subcommittee of the American Political Science Association’s Presidential Committee on Congressional Reform.
	Cheryl L. Johnson Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives Cheryl L. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th Clerk of the House in February 2019. Previously, Ms. Johnson worked for nearly two decades as counsel and staff director for House Committees and Subcommittees. More recently, she served as senior advisor and chief of staff to the director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and then as the director of the Smithsonian Office of Government Relations.
	Lorelei Kelly Director of Congressional Modernization, Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, Georgetown University Lorelei Kelly is a Data and Digital Fellow. She leads a research project on congressional modernization, assessing how data, technology, and new participation methods build a more resilient democracy. Lorelei previously worked for a decade as the director of Security for a New Century, a staff study group in the House and Senate, and studied decision analysis at the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation.
	Representative Derek Kilmer Chair, Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress Derek Kilmer was elected to the House in 2012 after serving in the Washington House and State Senate and as a business consultant for McKinsey and Company. He represents the Sixth Congressional District of Washington. He serves on the House Appropriations Committee and the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. He graduated from Princeton University and earned a doctorate from the University of Oxford.
	Matt Landgraf Lead Program Planner, Government Publishing Office Matt Landgraf has played a key role in implementing critical technology programs and projects at GPO during his 19-year career, including GPO’s govinfo system (formerly FDsys). He currently serves as Program Manager for GPO’s Composition System Replacement (CSR) Project, an automated composition system for composing congressional publications in XML and is critical to GPO’s ability to continue serving Congress.
	Lisa LaPlant Program Manager, govinfo, Government Publishing Office Lisa LaPlant serves as the Program Manager for govinfo, GPO’s ISO 16363 Trustworthy Digital Repository. For more than eighteen years, she has led complex, mission-critical, technology initiatives, including projects supporting the Bulk Data Task Force and the Legislative XML Working Group. Lisa graduated from James Madison University and is a Project Management Professional (PMP) and an agile Certified ScrumMaster (CSM).
	Representative Zoe Lofgren Chairperson, Committee on House Administration Zoe Lofgren was elected to the House in 1994. She represents the Nineteenth Congressional District of California, based in the “Capital of Silicon Valley,” San Jose. In addition to chairing the Committee on House Administration, she also serves on the Judiciary and Science, Space and Technology Committees. A lifelong Bay Area resident, she graduated from Stanford University and the Santa Clara University School of Law.
	Kevin McCumber Acting Chief, Office of Legislative Operations, Office of the Clerk Kevin McCumber has served in several positions within the Clerk’s office since August 2000: staff assistant, Assistant Journal Clerk, Assistant Tally Clerk, and most recently Deputy Chief of Legislative Operations. In 2006, Kevin worked as part of a Colorado Emergency Communications Center management team and studied political science at the University of Colorado. In 2012, he returned to the Office of the Clerk.
	Eric Mill Senior Technology Advisor, Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, Minority Staff Eric Mill handles election security and technology issues for the Senate Rules Committee’s minority staff. Previously, Eric was part of the General Services Administration and its 18F team, where he led the executive branch’s transition to HTTPS and oversaw Login.gov. Eric previously worked for the Sunlight Foundation, where he built APIs and applications that provided and used data we’re talking about today.
	Beth Noveck Founder and Director of The Governance Lab and Professor at New York University Beth Simone Noveck is a Professor at New York University in Technology, Culture, and Society; and she directs The Governance Lab (The GovLab) and its CrowdLaw initiative on 21st century lawmaking. She also directs The MacArthur Research Network on Opening Governance and is the State of New Jersey’s first Chief Innovation Officer.
	John Pollock Director, Legislative Information Systems Project, Office of the Secretary of the Senate, United States Senate John Pollock manages a team of developers currently tasked with maintaining and enhancing the Legislative Editor for XML Application (LEXA), which is the United States Senate’s XML editor. He is also a co-chair of the Legislative Branch XML Working Group, focusing on XML standards and practices in Congress. Prior to working for the Senate, Mr. Pollock designed and implemented business and publishing systems.
	Bob Reeves Deputy Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives Robert (Bob) Reeves has served as Deputy Clerk since 2008. In addition to his duties on the House Floor supporting legislative activity, Mr. Reeves leads the Legislative Branch Bulk Data Task Force and provides oversight for three Clerk divisions: Legislative Computer Systems, the Legislative Resource Center, and the Office of Communications. Mr. Reeves previously worked in private industry in executive-level IT positions.
	Arin Shapiro Webmaster and Director of Web Technology, Office of the Secretary of the Senate, United States Senate Arin Shapiro has worked for the Secretary of the Senate for seventeen years and as Director of Web Technology for eleven years, managing content on senate.gov, an extranet site for Capitol Hill entities, portions of the Senate’s intranet, and many interrelated web-based systems. He previously worked for a private information technology firm.
	Lisa Sherman Chief of Staff, Office of Representative Susan A. Davis Lisa Sherman has been Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Susan A. Davis (D-CA) since 2001. She began her Hill career as a 15-year-old intern and has over 25 years of campaign and legislative experience, having also worked for Representative Darlene Hooley and Senator Tom Harkin. Lisa staffs the House Administration Committee, and her portfolio includes election issues, internal House policy, and the Franking Commission.
	Michael S. Twinchek Clerk, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Majority Staff Michael Twinchek has for the House since 1995, including positions with the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on Natural Resources, and his current position as Clerk for the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado.
	Anne Washington Assistant Professor of Data Policy, New York University Anne L. Washington, PhD, is a computer scientist and professor who studies technology governance within data-driven organizations. She is the recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award on open government data and served with the Library of Congress for ten years. She created a course on Ethical Data Science at New York University and recently testified before Congress on artificial intelligence.
	Andrew Weber Congress.gov Product Owner, Library of Congress Andrew Weber works in the Office of the Chief Information Officer of the Library of Congress as the Congress.gov Product Owner, developing and implementing new features for the site and blending his love of technology, law, and gadgets. Andrew earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Ball State University and a JD and a master’s degree in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.
	Whitney Wyszynski Content and Multimedia Producer, Office of Communications, Office of the Clerk Whitney Wyszynski develops print, web, and multimedia content for the Office of the Clerk. Previously, she managed Congressional Relations for POPVOX. As POPVOX’s Digital Strategy Manager, she leveraged digital tools to make the legislative process easier to understand for congressional staff and the public. She graduated from the University of Georgia with bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Journalism.