Posted in Open Records on Oct 16th, 2007 1 Comment »
Knock on wood, and pardon my Beatles reference, but it looks as though we’re here to stay…
Our press conference was extremely well-attended and well-covered.
Sen. Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, Sen. Jim Ferlo and Rep. Tim Mahoney all spoke about their bills and the need for reform. Rep. Josh Shapiro, the co-chair of the Speaker’s Reform […]
Posted in Open Records on Oct 16th, 2007 1 Comment »
“Who in their right mind would be against this bill, and think they are going to get elected next year?” Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fayette).
“It’s time for us to clean up state government. Providing access to public records is an essential function of government agencies and an integral part of the fundamental duties of public officials […]
Posted in Open Records on Oct 15th, 2007 1 Comment »
On the morning of our press conference at the Capitol, there is a real hum of excitement about the possibility of meaningful open records legislation soon. . . .
HUGE news from PA. . .
A newly created FOI coalition and a great press association are teaming to make a huge difference in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvanians who have lobbied […]
Posted in Open Records on Oct 12th, 2007 No Comments »
• It’s great to see elected officials holding public hearings on open records change – such as the one later today by senators Andy Dinniman (D-Chester) and Connie Williams (D-Montgomery) in Haverford.
“We need a Right-to-Know law that better acknowledges that the public has a right to know what its government is doing and how its […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda on Oct 11th, 2007 No Comments »
We are holding a press conference on Monday in the State Capitol Rotunda to call for action on open records legislation. If you’re in town, please join us!
Text of October 10 media advisory.
Advocates, citizens and lawmakers will push for a stronger state Right To Know Law as debate on open records legislation is possible […]
Posted in Open Records on Oct 11th, 2007 No Comments »
Douglas Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, has recently responded to the open records issue with a comment on this blog and a letter in the Harrisburg Patriot-News. Earlier in the year, Mr. Hill and Tim Williams, president of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, exchanged letters over PNA’s “Open-Records Challenge,” and in […]
Posted in Open Records on Oct 10th, 2007 No Comments »
Most of the requests for open records occur at the county, school district and municipal levels. So does the confusion about how those local bodies are supposed to respond – and the frustration that comes from different and often contradictory response. That is precisely why we need to have reform at the state level – […]
Posted in Open Records, Open Records News on Oct 9th, 2007 No Comments »
With a vote promised on open records legislation soon (or so we have been led to believe), there is a lot of comment on the issue in newspapers and blogs across the state. In fact, because so many people view Pennsylvanians as still living in the open records Dark Ages, the recent push for change […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda on Oct 4th, 2007 1 Comment »
Jamie sat down with Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, sponsor of Senate Bill 1, and Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fayette, a freshman lawmaker who is sponsoring House Bill 443. Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Allegheny, who also has sponsored open records legislation, Senate Bill 765, is expected to provide an interview in the near future.
Blaine asked […]
Posted in Open Records, passopenrecords.org news on Oct 4th, 2007 4 Comments »
As promised, here are a few of the hands-on stories we’ve received that would qualify as bad. As always, these are in the participants’ own words.
One student received the runaround…literally.
I was assigned to find out if I could access the contract of a county executive of Clinton County. I found out that there […]