A bill introduced two months ago by City Council representative, Maria Quiñones-Sánchez, could finally force city agencies to make their proposed and approved regulations publicly available online. 

Ordinance: Departmental Regulation Notices to Be Published Online by SanchezOffice

Currently, agency regulations and newly proposed regulations—like those from the water department, licenses and inspection, and health department—are inconsistently available, so much so that they've been nicknamed 'shadow laws' by Quiñones-Sánchez's aide, Jennifer Kates. Residents and business-owners in the city have the right to request hearings and challenge newly proposed regulations, but those regulations are almost never posted or easy to find on city websites. 

The Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia and Community Legal Services supported the bill and testified before the City Council Law and Government Committee today. 

Thanks to @PILCOP1969 @CLSphila for testifying in favor of transparency and my bill to post City regulations online. pic.twitter.com/VKzBEWGwp7

— MariaQuinonesSanchez (@MariaQSanchez) April 28, 2014