Open government records to the public, legislator says

By Kori Walter

Giving the public greater access to government records would restore trust in state government, state Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fayette County, said Tuesday at a hearing on strengthening Pennsylvania’s open-records law.

Mahoney is the main sponsor of legislation that would give residents the right to obtain almost all government documents, ranging from township records to expenditures of state lawmakers.

“For a long time in Pennsylvania, we as legislators played shell games with the public, the newspapers and everybody else by not letting them know where the money is being spent,” Mahoney told the House State Government Committee. “I believe this bill will let the sunshine in. This is a bill that would put trust back in this House that we desperately need.”

Rep. Jaret Gibbons, D-10, Ellwood City, said he will back the bill as long as it safeguards personal information of state officials and public employees.

“The key part of this legislation is opening the financial records of our state, including the Legislature,” Gibbons said. “I am almost certain that sometime this session we will pass a stronger Right to Know Law.”

Mahoney said he will push for a vote on the bill shortly after lawmakers return from their summer break on Sept. 17.

The committee spent nearly five hours reviewing the bill and listening to testimony from newspaper editors, government watchdog groups, advocates for victims of domestic violence and others.

Teri Henning, general counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said the bill needs some fine-tuning.

Henning said the bill should not exempt public officials’ e-mail messages from the list of records available to the public.

“It invites agencies, so inclined, to communicate via e-mail about matters they don’t wish to disclose publicly,” Henning told the panel.

Other concerns focused on a provision that would create a state agency to process all records requests and decide whether documents meet the definition of a public record.

That could delay the release of records, Henning said.

Elam Herr, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors, said requests for municipal records should be made locally.

Herr and others said lawmakers must be careful to shield personal information, such as birth dates, Social Security numbers and addresses of crime victims, which could be contained in documents.

Mahoney said after the hearing that the testimony did not reveal any fatal flaws in the legislation.

“I think we found out today that we have more support for this bill than I thought we had,” Mahoney said. “I have a commitment from leadership that this is on the top of their agenda.”

Rep. Paul Clymer, R-Bucks County, agreed the bill had strong bipartisan support in the House.

“The more information that we can provide to the public through the media and other forms strengthens government,” Clymer said. “I think this bill is a step in the right direction.”

But Clymer disagreed with Mahoney’s strategy for getting the bill through the House.

Mahoney urged the committee to vote on the current version and let the full House revise the language during floor debate.

Clymer warned that’s a blueprint for disaster.

Lawmakers could insert language on the House floor that could peel off support for the bill and eventually sink it, Clymer said.

“You have to work out all the problems with the bill in the committee, and then go forward,” he said.

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