Opinion: Public matters can't hide behind law
OPINION
[Wilkes-Barre] Citizens Voice
Pennsylvania, with its woefully corrupt state Legislature and untold units of local government that also are no strangers to corruption, needs an effective Sunshine Law more so than most other states.
But amazingly, with two former Lackawanna County majority commissioners and two former Luzerne County judges facing racketeering charges related to their conduct while in office, the state House has passed a law that would allow local officials to conduct more business in secret.
The Sunshine Law requires all public bodies to conduct public meetings and to openly do business, with a few exceptions.
A House-passed amendment to the law would vastly expand the ability of local government officials to retreat behind closed doors. Fittingly, the progress of the amendment illustrates the perverse nature of lawmaking in Pennsylvania.
The measure began as a reform. It proposed increasing the fine for failure to comply with the Sunshine Act from $100 to $1,000, and to make offending public officials, rather than the governments they represent and, therefore, the taxpayers, responsible for the penalty.
That measure passed the House. But deep in the bowels of the legislation lies another provision that would close meeting-room doors on the public.
It would allow public bodies to secretly meet "to review and discuss plans related to school security, safety or emergency preparedness" - in other words, just about anything.
Public bodies all over Pennsylvania already illegally close meetings under the guise of "personnel matters," even though the law specifically limits that exception to very narrow circumstances.
It takes little imagination to envision how such government boards would use the broad language of the amendment to meet in secret. The higher fines in the amendment would be meaningless because the new exception would make it virtually impossible to violate the Sunshine Law.
The Senate should strike the language from the amendment in order to ensure that at least some public business is conducted in the light of day.
[Wilkes-Barre] Citizens Voice
Pennsylvania, with its woefully corrupt state Legislature and untold units of local government that also are no strangers to corruption, needs an effective Sunshine Law more so than most other states.
But amazingly, with two former Lackawanna County majority commissioners and two former Luzerne County judges facing racketeering charges related to their conduct while in office, the state House has passed a law that would allow local officials to conduct more business in secret.
The Sunshine Law requires all public bodies to conduct public meetings and to openly do business, with a few exceptions.
A House-passed amendment to the law would vastly expand the ability of local government officials to retreat behind closed doors. Fittingly, the progress of the amendment illustrates the perverse nature of lawmaking in Pennsylvania.
The measure began as a reform. It proposed increasing the fine for failure to comply with the Sunshine Act from $100 to $1,000, and to make offending public officials, rather than the governments they represent and, therefore, the taxpayers, responsible for the penalty.
That measure passed the House. But deep in the bowels of the legislation lies another provision that would close meeting-room doors on the public.
It would allow public bodies to secretly meet "to review and discuss plans related to school security, safety or emergency preparedness" - in other words, just about anything.
Public bodies all over Pennsylvania already illegally close meetings under the guise of "personnel matters," even though the law specifically limits that exception to very narrow circumstances.
It takes little imagination to envision how such government boards would use the broad language of the amendment to meet in secret. The higher fines in the amendment would be meaningless because the new exception would make it virtually impossible to violate the Sunshine Law.
The Senate should strike the language from the amendment in order to ensure that at least some public business is conducted in the light of day.