passopenrecords.org

In a comment posted earlier today, Left of Centre refers to Adam Smeltz’s discussion in the Centre Daily Times of “the weakness of [SB 1] with respect to Penn State and the Commonwealth’s other state-related universities.”

Here is the link to the column. Smeltz writes in part:

New open-records provisions that state lawmakers adopted Tuesday will compel Penn State to share more of its inner workings with the public.

Still, the disclosure requirements are not as sweeping as some bills proposed last year.

Those earlier proposals — which could have forced the sharing of university contract agreements and donor records, among other documents — stirred the public ire of Penn State President Graham Spanier last June.

The version passed by the General Assembly on Tuesday takes a less demanding tone — and more targeted approach — toward Penn State, the University of Pittsburgh and Temple and Lincoln universities.

The bill requires the state-related universities to fulfill these requirements:

• Share with the state, and with the public, all information that would be included in a federal Form 990 – a document completed by most nonprofit organizations and filed with the IRS, which includes an accounting of top-line revenue, contributions, expenses, and changes in net assets.

• Disclose the salaries of all officers and directors, and the salaries of the 25 highest-paid employees who are not officers or directors.

Reporting under the open-records law can exclude information about individual donors.

State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff (R-Bellefonte) said he preferred earlier proposals that would have made available more information from the universities.

The current bill puts the state-related universities in a category apart from most state departments, which are required to disclose all individual compensation data, and “I think (Pennsylvanians) want a universal, consistent law that should be applied fairly among any government body or agency that receives public tax dollars,” Benninghoff said.

But he supported the legislation as a product of compromise and a step toward transparency.

State Rep. Scott Conklin (D-Rush) said, while he understands the Penn State arguments, “I like everything open.”