Jul 12, 2002 2 min read

Keeping public in dark Dear Editor:

Quite frankly, I am perplexed by the editorial support that I have seen around the state for the so-called Open Records Bill (House Bill 2100).

This legislation is being touted as a great reform to allow citizens much greater access to non-confidential government documents. Unfortunately, this is a delusion.

True, it does establish timetables for producing documents, sets limits on fees for coping, applies penalties to public officials who fail to comply, requires electronic records to be converted to paper, and permits initial complaints about violations to go to a district justice. So, I guess it is better than nothing, but not much.

The problem is, there really is little incentive for enforcement, and the law doesn’t apply to very many documents. If an average citizen (who may need documents quickly to prepare for an upcoming school board meeting or a zoning board meeting) is unable, or unwilling, to go to court to defend his or her rights when a government agency appeals a district justice decision, the law probably won’t work.

And even if court action is pursued, by the time a court makes a decision, the records may be irrelevant.

Worse yet, the range of documents that this bill would allow citizens to see, the scope of agencies to which it applies still are far too limited.

Much of the truly useful information (such as a township study on the impact of new development on groundwater) remains off limits.

Pennsylvania is widely regarded as having one of the five worst public records laws in the nation. This legislation may take us from a 5 percent rating, to perhaps a 40 percent rating, but in every score card I’ve ever seen, that is still an F, for failure.

It is the equivalent of getting a new air conditioner, and finding out it only works in mild weather. Pennsylvanians need to have an open records law on which they can depend when the heat is on. The message that our legislators continue to send to Pennsylvania citizens is “we don’t trust you.”

Pennsylvanians deserve the same kind of access to government records that citizens in most other states have and we deserve this now.

Rebecca Deibler

Harrisburg

The writer is the state chairwoman of Common Cause.