Better Government Association

Disclosure laws worst in nation

April 28 2007

Among the many government reforms that are needed in Pennsylvania at the state and local levels, guaranteed openness is the most important because it is the foundation for all of the others.

Doubt the effect of public scrutiny on government operations and public officials’ conduct?

Consider the results of a court case brought by several news organizations against the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency over its refusal to disclose details of its spending by appointed agency officials and state lawmakers who sit on the PHEAA board of directors.

The courts forced the public agency to release public information that detailed lavish spending well beyond the appropriate purview of a public agency. PHEAA since has adopted a code of ethics and spending regulations.

But PHEAA is hardly alone because Pennsylvania’s public disclosure laws are among the worst of any state. According to an analysis by the independent, Chicago-based Better Government Association, only Alabama and South Dakota have laws and policies covering public records that are more restrictive. The state government’s grade for openness: “F.”

Several bills have been introduced in the state Legislature to further openness, but bills have been introduced before only to wither on the vine.

In order to ensure that does not happen this time, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association and several other organizations that advocate open government have created a Web site and blog, www.passopenrecords.org, on which all Pennsylvanians may record their experiences in trying to wrest information from the government, and their support for open records.

There is no mystery about what must be done to make the state’s open-records law the best, instead of among the worst. Legislation should include:

• A redefinition of “public record” so that all public records are presumed to be open records. Now, citizens seeking records must prove they are public records. The cost of the legal battles often involved in getting the information itself is a deterrent to individuals seeking data. The law should declare records to be presumed to be public, with a few very specific exceptions.

• The burden of proof in records disputes should be transferred to the agency withholding them.

• “Agency” must be redefined in the law to include the state Legislature, which has used the current definition to exempt itself from the law.

• A state office should be created to hear appeals and expedite the release of public information.

• Penalties for withholding public information must be strengthened to include individual sanctions in egregious cases.

Information is the key to the lock on government power, which is supposed to reside in the people. Supporting open records will help to restore that key to the public.