No going back
Changes to open records law criticized Progress is such in Harrisburg that one step forward often is followed by two steps back.
And so it is with the state’s new and greatly improved open records law, which was put on the books two years ago.
The much delayed law that updated what at the time was the worst open records law in the nation took two steps back last week. The state Senate, in record time for that plodding institution, approved a 12 1/2-cents-per-page fee that citizens would have to pay just to look at a public record – not to obtain a copy, but to look.
As the government watchdog group Democracy Rising Pennsylvania pointed out, a citizen who needs to find just one page in a 100-page document could have to pay $12.50 to see that page. It would be an additional 25 cents per page to make a copy.
Next, senators placed a limit on the types of records citizens could view pertaining to government contractors. This is a worrisome change because it would shield from public view government functions that are handed off to private entities.
Again Democracy Rising sounds a reasoned warning: “At the heart of the criminal case against former House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, is a government contract he is accused of using as a fig leaf to hide work done by the same contractor in support of partisan political campaigns at taxpayer expense” – a violation of state law. The new Senate provision could bar an individual from obtaining information about similar contracts.
But the senators’ backpedaling didn’t end there. The Senate measure also limits the types of records subject to public view pertaining to fire companies and emergency squads. And it rescinds the public’s right to see records of payment to tax collectors and municipal water and sewer authorities.
Among the things that didn’t change: State lawmakers and judges remain exempt from the law’s reach.
Not all of the proposed changes are bad, however. The Senate bill also requires school boards and other government bodies to share with citizens more of the material they review at public meetings. Also, citizens could receive records stored on government computers in computer formats.
But those improvements aren’t enough to balance a measure that does damage to government openness. People shouldn’t have to pay to look at government documents. And documents compiled by private contractors pertaining to government contracts should be open for public view.
The House should reject the Senate’s backpedaling on government transparency. If it passes the bill, the governor should take a stand in favor of openness and veto the measure.
Progress on open records was slow to come in Pennsylvania, with the old law surviving for 50 years without improvement.
It was a long and arduous road to openness; don’t let lawmakers slip back.
Bucks County Courier Times