The U.S. House of Representatives has debuted a beta version of its new website.

The Hill reports the U.S. State Department has shut down its website America.gov and will put its communications work into social media.

ExecutiveGov.com reports that Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) is seeking more information from White House Chief Information Officer about which open government websites are at risk of being cut.

Federal News Radio reported yesterday that the Office of Management and Budget may take down seven open government websites by May 31 because of a measure in the House spending bill that would eliminate funding. These would include data.gov, paymentaccuracy.gov, and Fedspace – the site for government employees and contractors. The article also said two more sites, USASpending.gov and Apps.gov/now, could be gone after June.

These sites are the result of the Open Government Initiative from the Obama administration. The raw data they provide have been the source of creativity for many app writers who have set out to improve transparency, to solve problems, and to change the way people interact with their government.

The Hill reported that the Sunlight Foundation has criticized the sites for lacking important data sets from government agencies and thus hindering transparency. But the article said the group went to bat with the House leadership to keep them funded.

We’ll see what happens.

Until now, those interested in finding out how much candidates for regional office had raised and where the money came from had to take a trip to the registrar’s office, pour through paper records, and pay photocopying fees.

Assistant Registrar Michael Vu says the county has earmarked $100,000 for a contract to put the information online. The Registrar plans to have the first batch of disclosures on the site in October.

You can read more about the San Diego County Registrar of Voters at their Web site.