Report from the trenches, part 3
Sep 18th, 2007 by dani_k
This is the third and final part of my report from the Pittsburgh chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the PA Freedom of Information Coalition’s Forum on Open Government & Pennsylvania Open Records Law Workshop. I apologize for these segments being so long. I didn’t expect it and had already cut a lot of commentary from my initial notes!
In the third session, “Reforms on the Horizon: What Would an Ideal Open Records Law Include?” participants Sen. Jim Ferlo of Pittsburgh, Rep. Tim Mahoney of Uniontown, Tim Potts of Democracy Rising, Police Chief Frank Monaco of Plum Borough, Teri Henning of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, and Ira Weiss, a solicitor for several western Pennsylvania school districts and municipalities all spoke about their goals and concerns regarding open records reform. Due to the amount of participants on this panel, much of the testimony was brief. Elaine Effort of KQV News Radio served as moderator.
Senator Ferlo, the sponsor of SB 765, said he wants to strengthen the language of his bill, and held up the confidential quarterly report on state vendors he receives as a member of the Legislature, saying, “This should be public.”
Representative Mahoney, the sponsor of HB 443, explained the 24 exemptions in his bill which include some emails and “records that would threaten public safety.” He announced that he was meeting on Mon. Sept. 17 with Common Cause and the PNA to tighten his bill.
Tim Potts said he believes open records reform should apply to the judiciary, not just state and local government. His biggest problem with today’s laws - and proposed reform - is that there’s no “presumption of accessibility,” meaning that records should be kept in a format convenient to taxpayers. With real reform, he hopes that it will be easier to “connect the dots” from lobbyists to legislators to legislation. Someday, he hopes that the state will market public information to taxpayers and budget for citizen access “just as they budget for $360 million in walking-around-money.”
As a law enforcement officer, Plum Borough Police Chief Tim Monaco spoke from a different perspective, noting that 70% of the police departments in the state had 10 or less officers, meaning that paying a public information officer meant taking an officer off the streets. He advocated for a balance of public safety and public acess, noting that some information - like 911 calls or the names of victims - should be left private.
Ira Weiss, who has served as solicitor for several western PA school districts and municipalities, came from a similar perspective, though he believes that PA needs clear definitions of what is and what is NOT public information. Whatever timelines are enacted for compliance, Ira said, they need to be realistic.
The PA Freedom of Information Coalition has information on all their forums on their page. The next forum, co-sponsored by the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment, is on October 16 in State College.