THE TIMES-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL:
Access law good but still not best
Feb. 15, 2008
After years of prodding, Pennsylvania's Legislature this week finally approved a new open-records law that substantially improves access to public information. A House-Senate conference committee reconciled differences in each chamber's version and, despite some exceptions, retained features that promote openness while eliminating portions that limit openness.
The most important part of the new law is that it creates the legal presumption that public records are subject to access. Under the old law, one of the nation's worst, the law identified a few public records but then left it to individuals to prove that other records they sought were subject to public access. The inconvenience and cost of such challenges were enough to keep the books closed, in many cases. The new law would require a public agency withholding a record to prove why it should be secret.
Still, lawmakers could not bring themselves all the way to the nation's best open-records law.
For example, the lawmakers finally included the Legislature itself among all of the other aspects of government that must open records to public scrutiny. Unfortunately, they borrowed the method used in the old law to limit the types of records subject to scrutiny, by including a short list of 19 types of open records, rather than creating the presumption of openness that will apply to all other aspects of government.
The bill creates an Office of Open Records to mediate disputes between public agencies and people or organizations seeking public records. But rather than ensuring that body's independence by placing it under the Ethics Commission, the bill assigns it to the state Office of Community and Economic Development, which works closely with the very local governments that would be defending their decisions not to divulge information.
During the conference process for reconciling differences in the House and Senate versions, some measures were removed that would have precluded public access to 9-1-1 recordings and other enlightening public information. The final version, however, includes a provision that precludes the public release of information about individuals younger than 17, which is certain to produce legal disputes and problems for school districts that want to release information about students' achievements.
On balance the bill is a significant boost to open government. By failing to comprehensively ensure openness, however, the Legislature also has ensured that the fight for openness will have to continue.
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