Nov 21, 2002 2 min read

When lawmakers are asked to make public records more accessible, they often balk, burying bills deep within committees. But when a request is made to hide records, lawmakers seem far too willing to act in haste. Such is the case with House Bill 2962. Last week the House Judiciary Committee moved a bill out of committee to amend the Pennsylvania Coroner’s Act to exempt from public disclosure information held by the coroner that tends to or will compromise an ongoing investigation by any federal, state or local investigative enforcement agency.

On the surface this sounds reasonable. Few would want to jeopardize or interfere with a criminal investigation. Yet, this exemption is so broad that it could keep families from obtaining autopsy reports and tie the hands of coroners such as Fayette County’s who hold regular inquests into troublesome deaths.

Even more worrisome is this bill could keep the public from knowing about issues that affect their health and safety and it keeps the public from judging the effectiveness of law enforcement.

The overly broad language of “tends to” or “will compromise” gives those who want to hide records every reason to do so without the public having any recourse.

This bill seems to be a reaction to a recent Blair County court case in which the Altoona Mirror successfully petitioned for the release of coroner records. While the decision is on appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, this fast-track legislation is aimed to override the court. This is not how laws should be made.

We urge area lawmakers to take this slowly and not automatically approve this bill. Before shutting off the public’s access to records, a full debate is needed. Leave this one until the next term.