Our commitment to using public government datad exclusively in service of an informed, engaged citizenry.

Preamble

The Real Housing Reform Initiative (RHRI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit civic engagement organization dedicated to a single mission: connecting citizens to the governments that serve them. We believe that an informed public is the foundation of a healthy democracy, and that the barrier between most people and their local government is not apathy — it is access.

Local government meetings are where housing gets zoned, budgets get approved, permits get granted, and communities get shaped. These meetings are public by law, yet the practical reality for most residents is a wall of PDFs, last-minute agenda postings, and recordings buried in proprietary portals. Real Briefings exists to tear down that wall.

In pursuing this mission, RHRI collects, processes, and publishes data from public government meetings — agendas, minutes, recordings, and related documents — sourced from platforms including Granicus, CivicPlus/CivicClerk, Legistar, and municipal websites. This policy governs how we obtain, use, protect, and publish that data.

We do not sell data. We do not monetize data. We do not editorialize data. We inform.

Section 1: What Data We Collect

RHRI collects only data that is made publicly available by government entities in fulfillment of their legal obligations under open meetings laws, including Washington State's Open Public Meetings Act (RCW 42.30) and equivalent statutes in other jurisdictions. This includes:

• Meeting agendas, packets, and supporting documents
• Meeting minutes and voting records
• Audio and video recordings of public meetings
• Meeting schedules, body rosters, and legislative calendars
• Supporting government documents such as budgets, capital improvement plans, and comprehensive plans that are referenced in or relevant to public meetings
• Condensing lengthy meeting documents and recordings into accessible, plain-language summaries that residents can read in minutes rather than hours. Summarization
• Organizing and tagging meeting content so that residents can find information about specific topics, properties, or decisions across multiple meetings and jurisdictions. Indexing and Search
• Creating study guides, quizzes, flash cards, and reference materials that help residents understand how their local government works. Education
• Alerting subscribers to upcoming meetings, new agenda postings, and published minutes relevant to their areas of interest. Notification
• Providing structured data to support nonpartisan policy research, investigative journalism, and academic study of local government activity. Research Support
• RHRI will never sell, license, barter, or otherwise transfer government meeting data to any third party for commercial purposes. Commercial Sale
• RHRI will never use collected data to advocate for or against any candidate, ballot measure, political party, or policy position. We present what governments do; we do not tell citizens what to think about it. Political Advocacy
• RHRI's published content will accurately reflect the content of government meetings and documents without inserting RHRI's own opinions, characterizations, or conclusions. Editorialization
• Data will never be used to build commercial audience profiles or to support targeted advertising of any kind. Targeted Marketing
• Processed data will not be redistributed to third parties in ways that exceed the original scope of public access or that would violate any applicable terms of service, API agreements, or data sharing arrangements with platform providers. Unauthorized Redistribution
• We report what was said, what was voted on, and what was decided. We do not characterize motivations or assign blame.
• We present multiple perspectives when government officials or members of the public express differing views on an agenda item.
• We use plain, accessible language, but we do not use loaded, partisan, or emotionally charged framing.
• Our summaries and educational content are reviewed for factual accuracy against the source material.
• We correct errors promptly and transparently when they are identified.
• Where government platforms (such as Legistar, CivicPlus, or Granicus) provide public APIs, RHRI will use them in compliance with applicable terms of service, rate limits, and usage policies. We will not circumvent authentication, access controls, or usage restrictions. Public APIs
• Where data is published on publicly accessible government websites and portals in fulfillment of open meetings law, RHRI may collect it through automated or manual means, respecting robots.txt guidance and avoiding disruption to public services. Public Web Portals
• RHRI may record publicly streamed government meetings for the purpose of transcription and summarization, consistent with Washington State law and equivalent statutes in other jurisdictions. Direct Media Capture
• RHRI welcomes formal data-sharing agreements with government platform providers. In any such arrangement, RHRI agrees to abide by the terms of the agreement, to use the data only within the scope described in this policy, and to provide platform providers with a description of our intended use upon request. Data-Sharing Partnerships
• Source data (recordings, raw documents) is stored securely in cloud infrastructure with access limited to authorized RHRI staff and contractors.
• Processed outputs (summaries, transcripts, study guides) are published publicly as part of our civic education mission.
• Data that is no longer relevant to current or planned programming is subject to periodic review and deletion.
• RHRI does not store private citizen information and takes reasonable measures to redact any PII that may appear in source government documents before publication.
• Publishing this policy publicly and keeping it current as our data practices evolve.
• Disclosing the jurisdictions and platforms from which we collect data.
• Making our data sourcing methods available for review upon request by government entities, platform providers, or the public.
• Reporting annually on the scope of our data collection and the civic impact of our programs.

We do not collect, store, or process any data that is not already designated as public record under applicable law. We do not seek, retain, or use any personally identifiable information (PII) about private citizens.

Section 2: How We Use the Data

2.1 Permitted Uses

All data collected by RHRI is used exclusively for civic education and public transparency purposes. Permitted uses include:

2.2 Prohibited Uses

The following uses of collected data are expressly prohibited under this policy:

Section 3: The Neutrality Standard

RHRI is committed to strict editorial neutrality in all published content derived from government meeting data. This is not merely a preference — it is a core organizational principle.

Our neutrality standard means:

Citizens come to Real Briefings to understand their government, not to be told what to think about it. We take this responsibility seriously.

Section 4: Data Sourcing and Platform Relationships

RHRI accesses government meeting data through multiple channels, and our conduct in each is governed by this policy and applicable law:

Section 5: Data Retention and Security

RHRI retains collected government meeting data only as long as necessary to fulfill our civic education mission. Our data practices include:

Section 6: Transparency About Our Own Operations

We believe in the same transparency we ask of government. RHRI commits to:

Section 7: Amendments and Governing Authority

This policy is adopted by the Real Housing Reform Initiative and is effective as of the date listed above. It may be amended by RHRI's leadership to reflect changes in applicable law, platform relationships, or organizational practice. Material amendments will be published with a new effective date.

Questions about this policy may be directed to public@realhousingreform.org.