WITH SIGNING OF OPEN RECORDS BILL, GOVERNOR RENDELL SHINES BRIGHTEST LIGHT ON STATE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, INFORMATION

 

Feb. 14, 2008 WITH SIGNING OF OPEN RECORDS BILL, GOVERNOR RENDELL SHINES BRIGHTEST LIGHT ON STATE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, INFORMATION HARRISBURG Governor Edward G. Rendell today made it easier than it has ever been for Pennsylvanians to learn more about how their state government operates and spends tax dollars when he signed Senate Bill 1 into law. The new Right to Know Law, which will affect requests made after Jan. 1, assumes that most government records are public. The law the measure repeals has placed that onus on the people who ask for information.

PAPower: WITH SIGNING OF OPEN RECORDS BILL, GOVERNOR RENDELL SHINES BRIGHTEST LIGHT ON STATE GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, INFORMATION

Daily and Sunday Review – Pa. open records legislation needs commitment from Pickett and Baker

Keep your fingers crossed that we get a viable and strong Open Records law.

The state Senate has passed an open-records bill that finally would create much greater transparency in the operation of local and state governments. As passed, the bill is strong. With a touch more pro-openness tweaking, it could become exemplary.

 

Key provisions of the bill include a presumption, in most cases, that government records are open to public scrutiny, inclusion of legislative and judicial records, inclusion of state-affiliated universities, creation of an Office of Open Records, and higher fines for public officials who fail to comply with legitimate records requests.

 

The House should adopt those measures and improve on them in a few ways, rather than gutting the bill, as it did in October.

Daily and Sunday Review – Pa. open records legislation needs commitment from Pickett and Baker

 Open Records Act overhaul – In the House…

Open Records Act overhaul – In the House…

From the Morning Call: An overhaul of Pennsylvania’s antiquated open-records law is on ice, awaiting a House vote that could send it on to the governor or prolong the debate for months.Commonwealth’s Open Records Law Heads to the House…again!

Commonwealth’s Open Records Law Heads to the House…again!

One of the many blogs/web sites I monitor is the Keystone Politics, a blog dedicated to covering Pennsylvania politics. They recently reported on the latest on the proposed update to Pennsylvania’s “much maligned” Open Records Law.

If you are interested, you can get an RSS feed for Keystone Politics here.