Pa. House takes up open records bill

The bill would increase the public’s right to know,
supporters said.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The fits-and-starts process of overhauling Pennsylvania’s open records law moved closer to finality Monday as the House of Representatives began debate on amendments to a version already passed by the state Senate.

Dozens of amendments were filed ahead of Monday’s session, signaling a potentially lengthy debate, but House Democratic leaders still hoped to have a bill on Gov. Ed Rendell’s desk before Christmas.

The Senate bill would radically change the 50-year-old Right-to-Know Law, which is widely regarded as one of the nation’s weakest laws to protect public access to government records and information.

The legislation would overturn the underlying assumption of the law by declaring that all records are public beyond a list of exceptions — a fundamental change that is considered crucial by advocates of greater public access to government records and information.

It also would expand the law to include financial records of the legislative and judicial branches, and include Pennsylvania’s college loan agency, community colleges and the four state-related universities.

Present law presumes records are not open to the public unless they fall into one of two categories: accounts, vouchers or contracts; or minutes, orders or decisions. It applies to local governments and to the executive branch of state government, but not to the legislative or judicial branches.

The main amendment, sponsored by Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fayette, had drawn criticism from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association because it said the public would not have the right of access to dates of birth and phone numbers when they are contained within a government record.

“This amendment will show the taxpayers that there will be no more corruption, there will be no overpaying ... going on in this house,” Mahoney said at the beginning of the debate.