Help Lift the Lid Today
Jun 12th, 2007 by JamieB
If you are near the Capitol today, come by and visit us in the rotunda . . .There will be ice cream vendors and, of course, hand-outs on why we need open records reform. Just in case you’ve forgotten, here’s why . . . .
Public access and governmental openness are fundamental to democratic government. Yet Pennsylvania’s open records law is anything but open or accessible. Pennsylvanians are demanding greater access to – and accountability from – their government, and executive and legislative leaders are backing important changes in our outdated law.
WHY WE NEED CHANGE
1. Almost every state in the nation provides far greater access to public records than Pennsylvania.
2. In a 2002 survey of open records laws of all states and the District of Columbia, the Better Government Association, ranked Pennsylvania 49th in the nation and gave us an “F” in access. Only Alabama and South Dakota fared worse.
3. In a 2005 survey coordinated by the Associated Press, 278 reporters across Pennsylvania requested basic public records from government agencies. Ten percent of the requests were flatly denied. Access to superintendents’ contracts was denied in a third of 130 school districts, and about 40% of 217 police departments refused access to their blotters.
4. Most state laws, and the federal Freedom of Information Act, begin with the commonsense presumption that public records belong to the public. They then list categories of records that should not be disclosed. Pennsylvania’s law does the opposite – nothing is public unless the requester can prove that it fits into a very narrow definition of “public record.” Even if it makes that cut, you might not get it anyway because Pennsylvania has its own list of exemptions.
5. Some recent examples of how our law works:
• The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency spent $862,000 on five years of board retreats and then fought all the way to the state supreme court to keep the details secret. It not only lost, it spent $400,000 in legal fees before releasing the documents.
• Pennsylvania State University has fought to keep the salary of football coach Joe Paterno secret, even though Paterno participates in the State Employees’ Retirement System and the university receives millions in state funding each year. The case is now before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
• In 2005 and 2006, Pennsylvania legislators paid $3.6 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses to legislative staffers. These payments were not previously disclosed because the General Assembly has exempted itself from the state’s open records law and did not release the information until this year.
• In 2006, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation denied access to its list of dangerous intersections and locations on Pennsylvania’s roadways, and the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court agreed that these lists do not fall under the definition of “public record” under current law.
A recent Mansfield University study found that three out of four Pennsylvanians want public access to public records. Many of the state’s legislators also support meaningful reform of the open records law.
Access to government is critical for citizens to hold government agencies and officials accountable for their spending and decisions.