Posted in Legislative Agenda on Nov 21st, 2007 No Comments »
The bad news is that the Legislature left for Thanksgiving before overhauling HB 443.
The good news is that it looks like “both parties are abandoning a previous open records proposal (HB 443) that was criticized by good-government groups because it contained broad exceptions,” according to the Herald-Standard.
So what’s going on? There’s […]
Posted in Open Records on Nov 21st, 2007 No Comments »
In this blog we have mostly reported on events in Harrisburg and have sampled opinions from across the state of Pennsylvania. We have also written about local events in communities throughout the Commonwealth, for it is at the municipal, county and school district levels that most of the open records action takes place. Occasionally we […]
Posted in Open Records News on Nov 20th, 2007 No Comments »
This just in - from the Patriot-News: Turns out, Paterno’s pay is public and must be released by the State Employees’ Retirement System, according to a 4-2 decision by the State Supreme Court today. We’ll have more on this tomorrow.
Posted in Legislative Agenda on Nov 20th, 2007 No Comments »
From the Uniontown Herald-Standard: Rep. Bill DeWeese announced in an impromptu press conference last night that the House will vote on HB 443 today, but does not expect a final vote to take place until next month. “They (Republicans) will not be able to caterwaul about a rush to judgment,” he said. “We […]
Posted in Open Records on Nov 20th, 2007 No Comments »
What does a good open-records law look like?
Six things that need to be in the bill:
1. Public records must be presumed to be open, unless a government agency can demonstrate otherwise.
2. Records on how legislators spend public money must be covered.
3. Exceptions must be specific and spelled out.
4. There should be an Office of Access […]
Posted in Legislative Agenda on Nov 19th, 2007 No Comments »
That’s a quote from House Speaker Denny O’Brien, from John Baer’s column in the Philadelphia Daily News today. Baer says the Legislature should “pass an open-records law to show some accountability.”
The House isn’t in this week, but the Senate is, and word on the street is that they’re going to vote […]
Posted in Open Records on Nov 19th, 2007 2 Comments »
During the debate, legislators spent several hours hand-wringing over the potential impact of opening up e-mail to public scrutiny. Some questioned how long e-mail documents needed to be kept, how they should be stored, and whether such storage capacity even existed.
Still others worried whether they would suddenly be subject to stiff fines, and possibly prosecution, […]
Posted in Open Records News on Nov 17th, 2007 No Comments »
There was so much news this week that I decided to do a separate roundup just for editorials.
The Towanda Daily and Sunday Review says that the House has made a mockery of legislative reform. The Erie Times-News says the House ruined HB 443. and the Altoona Mirror asks their readers to demand openness […]
Posted in Open Records News on Nov 16th, 2007 No Comments »
Well…it’s been a busy week here in Harrisburg. Lots of events that make Pennsylvanians think twice about how open the state should be. The Pocono Record thinks that Pennsylvanians should be “rioting over misspent tax dollars and unnecessary secrecy. They ought to demand the best government, answers and accountability from their public […]
Posted in Open Records on Nov 16th, 2007 No Comments »
Yes, the pay raise scandal happened years ago, and the voters punished legislators and judges in the 2006 elections. They are undoubtedly ready to move on and look for their elected leaders to do the same. But that doesn’t mean that they are any less wary than they have been, and greater transparency in government […]