“A loophole you can drive a truck through”
Dec 7th, 2007 by JamieB
Having been out of state for a while, I am scrambling to figure out what is going on with reform efforts in general and the open-records fight in particular. So I turned to the folks who have been following this “process” all along, and they are as bewildered as I am. No betting man or woman seems ready to lay odds on whether Pennsylvania’s legislators will pass anything before the end of the year. The governor has announced he is ready to sign, but will he get anything worth signing?
Not, it would seem, if we are pinning any hopes on the House:
A day that was supposed to be a triumph for reform and good government devolved into a chaotic mess marked by whirling rumors and partisan finger-pointing, resulting in nothing getting done.
Votes on legislation to revamp the state’s open records law never occurred.
Just when I was beginning to think that Pennsylvania was unique in its record of broken promises and unfinished reform, I read about our small neighbor to the southeast. While I guess it’s nice to know we are not alone, somehow it isn’t very reassuring:
Mobilizing for a third attempt to expand open-government laws to include the state Legislature, lawmakers hosted a forum Wednesday to rally public support for a their efforts.
The sponsors of Senate Bill 4, which would end the General Assembly’s self-exemption from the state’s Freedom of Information Act, told an audience of about 20 – many of whom were already supportive of their cause – that public outcry has bolstered their chances of passing the latest version of the bill.
“How dare we say, ‘You sent us here but you don’t have a right to know what we do’?” state Sen. Karen Peterson said. “Nobody likes to be watched all the time, but we’re in positions where we should expect you to want to know.”
Delaware’s FOIA law, passed in 1978, established guidelines for when and how government meetings are held and how much notice must be provided. The law also provides the public’s right to watch government at work except in certain predefined circumstances.
In passing the law, the Legislature applied it to all city and town councils, school boards and other public bodies. But the state General Assembly exempted itself.
Subsequent court decisions declared the General Assembly could not be placed under the law unless lawmakers voted to include themselves.
The state Legislature affirmed in 1985 its place above FOIA’s rules when the General Assembly amended the law to add a line specifically exempting itself and its caucuses and committees.
Peterson is part of a group of lawmakers in both chambers of the Legislature and across the political aisle working to bring the General Assembly under the same standard it has held the rest of the state to for nearly 30 years.
“It’s a matter of principle,” Peterson said. “If it’s good for everyone else in this state, it’s good enough for us.”
Similar FOIA bills have died in committee in the past two legislative session as the Legislature has been unmoved in its position above FOIA. SB 4 will be debated in the upcoming January legislative session and already competes with a drastically different bill in the House.
House Bill 60, introduced by Rep. Robert Valihura Jr., R-Talleyville, also would extend FOIA to cover the General Assembly but would allow any legislative committee to vote to go into an executive session, outside the purview of FOIA.
“I think that’s a terrible idea,” attendee Rebecca Young, executive director of Progressive Democrats for Delaware, said of HB 60. “That’s a loophole you can drive a truck through.”