Posted in Open Records News on Nov 8th, 2007 No Comments »
We aren’t the only ones declaring HB 443 a mess. This week, papers all over the state were abuzz over HB 443 and other open records issues.
On Saturday, the Lewistown Sentinel said that HB 443 “will make it harder than ever to hold public officials and agencies accountable for their decisions and […]
Posted in Open Records News on Nov 1st, 2007 No Comments »
In a Monday editorial, Philadelphia Inquirer says, “Lawmakers should be guided by openness and access, not loopholes.”
The next day, the Centre Daily Times said “The General Assembly should consider adopting a new state slogan. You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania. We just won’t tell you who it is.” That same day, the […]
Posted in Open Records News on Oct 29th, 2007 No Comments »
These two stories from the Associated Press — the Senate State Government Committee voted to send SB 1 to the full Senate; while the House pushed back its debate on HB 443 for at least a day.
• A state Senate committee unanimously approved a bill today to overhaul the law that sets limits on public […]
Posted in Open Records News on Oct 27th, 2007 No Comments »
• State Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fayette), sponsor of a bill to increase public access to government records, still wants the legislation passed after the House State Government committee modified it considerably.
House Bill 443 would change Pennsylvania law to presume all government records are public and that only narrow exceptions should be made. Some members of […]
Posted in Open Records News on Oct 26th, 2007 1 Comment »
There is been strong and pretty much unanimous reaction across Pennsylvania to the changes that were made to House Bill 443 one night last week in the State Government Committee. The reviews, which are sampled here, condemn both the substance of the amendments and the way they were rammed through. Rep Mike Vereb (R-Montgomery), a […]
Posted in Open Records News on Oct 25th, 2007 No Comments »
Right-to-Know Law reform up for public discussion
A public discussion on proposed changes to Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law will be held Monday, Oct. 29 in Camp Hill, and will feature key players in the open government debate.
The forum is being hosted by the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition (PaFOIC) at the Cleve J. Fredricksen Library, 100 N. […]
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 Open Records News on Sep 29th, 2007 No Comments »
Jamie wrote about the Windber Borough Manager’s “confidential” severance agreement a few days ago; earlier this week, The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat reports that they’ve successfully retrieved the document via an open records request.
There’s news of ANOTHER open records contest, and before the Local Government Association gets all riled up, this one isn’t ours. However, […]
Posted in Open Records News on Sep 28th, 2007 No Comments »
This chain of events was brought to my attention through the Washington Observer-Reporter website as well as the blog of one of their reporters, Scott Beveridge. Below is a recap and overview of the O-R and Beveridge’s struggle, and most of it in his own words. I’d recommend clicking on the story links […]
Posted in Open Records News on Sep 18th, 2007 No Comments »
Sen. Pileggi editorialized on open records in the Allentown Morning Call, saying strengthening open records laws is his “top legislative priority.” We hope that the Senate will push his, or Sen. Ferlo’s, yet-to-be-amended bills through. An interesting point, though, is that Sen. Ferlo said last Saturday that he hasn’t received any […]