After taking into account a local state senator's amendments, legislation to improve the availability of government documents under the Pennsylvania Open Records Law was approved last week by the state Senate State Government Committee.
State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, amended Senate Bill 1, the state's open records law, to presume all executive and local agency records are open unless they fall under a specific exception outlined in the law.
"We still have a ways to go until this bill becomes law," said Don Houser, chief of staff for Corman, adding that it needs to pass through the state House and Senate before it is signed into law by the governor. "It's a major step in openness for the state government."
Clay Calvert, Curley professor of the First Amendment, said open records are important because cit zens have a right to see how and where taxpayer dollars are being spent.
"In a democratic society, it's crucial that we know what takes place," he said.
Senate Bill 1, sponsored by state Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester and Delaware, would require all state contracts, including contracts of the legislature, to be posted online. Social Security numbers, medical records, records that threaten domestic security and police investigation records will still remain private.
Putting information online would allow citizens to access databases even when no actual paper records exist, Calvert said.
Tom Fountaine, borough manager, said State College is already "pretty open with our records," and many records currently can be found online. Matters of litigation are still kept private, "but for the most part, we try to be pretty liberal with what we consider open records," he said.
"We comply with the open records law, and I don't believe we would be in a position where we would be illegally refusing open records," he added.
The bill would also create stricter penalties for noncompliance.
"Without imposing some form of a penalty against government officials who wrongfully withhold documents to which citizens have a right of access, the law would have no teeth," Calvert said.
Citizens are often "rebuked" when asking for documents, Houser said, and it can take weeks or months, or a possible legal battle, to get the documents. If the bill is signed into law, Houser said the length of the process would be shortened to hours and days.
Corman amended the bill after joining the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association's Brighter Pennsylvania Initiative last year.
Erik Arneson, spokesman for Pileggi, said the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association supports the changes proposed in the bill, but still would like to see more openness in the government.
Melissa Melewsky, media law council at the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said changing the open records law is one of the most important issues before the Pennsylvania Legislature.
"Pennsylvania is one of the worst [states for] public access in the country, and people are tired of trying to get access to records," Melewsky said. "Open records ... make for better government, and it certainly makes for more trust when government is open."
