TodayProgress is made on open records law
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Article RatingThe state House of Representatives broke another promise made to the people of Pennsylvania when members went home this week without voting on HB 443 regarding access to public records as they had said they would.
But that’s something for which we should be profoundly thankful, since HB 443 was so maimed by dozens of last-minute amendments it would actually have taken our current open records law and made it worse — something difficult to comprehend, given how awful the current law is.
Indeed, the House leadership this week took the wounded bill and put it out of its misery.
Majority Leader Bill DeWeese announced Wednesday that after “very aggressive negotiations,” a new bill was about to be introduced and that the sponsors were seeking co-sponsors. It has since garnered about 60, led by Reps. Tim Mahoney, D-South Union Township; Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery County; and our own Glen R. Grell, R-87.
While Grell continues to see a need to keep some records closed — and very few inside or outside government argues that all records should be open — we were pleased to note that he voted last month against exempting all e-mail from the House’s dismal first attempt at a reform bill.
The new bill, HB 2072, would include the Legislature under the umbrella of openness, something many in the House fought bitterly and which the Senate’s version does not.
It also preserves the all-important “flip of presumption,” which means records are considered public unless specifically exempted and the burden of proving a record is closed falls on the caretaker agency, not the citizen.
The list of exemptions continue to be long and detailed, however, and carries over the provision that the reform bill not be retroactive. Instead, if this bill became law, it would cover records generated after June 30, 2008.
This new bill is showing signs of viability the old bill never had. For one thing, the Republican leadership was permitted to prevail when DeWeese proposed suspending the rules and fast-tracking a new bill before recessing. Now the word “bipartisan” is being warmly traded around and, despite what Democrats may think on the question, it will be good for everyone if reform has broad support.
More important, the new bill more closley parallels SB1, a stronger open records bill the state Senate easily approved even as HB 443 was sinking under the weight of the afore-mentioned amendments.
When the two bills were so far apart, advocates of better government — which can flourish only in a climate of openness — rightly feared any bill that might be forged in conference as legislators struggled to reconcile two wildly divergent approaches.
The House is scheduled to return Dec. 3, giving us time to give thanks that a poorly cooked turkey has been taken off the table before it was forcefed to the public.
That’s time citizens should use to let their representatives know they expect to find something nice under the Christmas tree this year — an open records law for Pennsylvania that can stand up to the best in the nation.
The text of the bill that went to the House Committee on State Government Wednesday can be found here.
