|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|
State
Rep. Tom Tangretti |
|
House open records bill includes Tangretti amendment
Change moves public records office from DCED to State Ethics Commission
HARRISBURG, Dec. 10 – Open records legislation debated by the House today and ready for a final vote later this week includes an amendment introduced by state Rep. Tom Tangretti that would establish a new Public Records Office in the State Ethics Commission to help Pennsylvania residents gain access to public records and appeal decisions by state and local agencies denying access to records.
The legislation, a House-amended version of a Senate bill that passed earlier this month (S.B. 1), would, for the first time, place a presumption in state law that the records of all three branches of government at both the state and local level are public. It also exempts fewer records than the original Senate version.
As originally drafted, the main portion of the legislation would have created a public records clearinghouse within the state Department of Community and Economic Development to facilitate access to public records. The director of the clearinghouse would have been appointed by the governor.
Instead, Tangretti’s amendment would create an Office of Public Records with an executive director appointed by the independent State Ethics Commission.
"A state office charged with facilitating public records requests and resolving public records disputes should be as independent as possible,” Tangretti said. “Placing this office under the direction of the State Ethics Commission instead of DCED removes the potential for its decisions and policies to be influenced by the administration.”
Tangretti said the Ethics Commission would have time to prepare for its new open records responsibilities should the bill become law because the measure would not take effect for another year.
Legislators in the House and Senate are aiming to get open records legislation passed and to the governor’s desk before the end of the year.
###mjh/2007/agh l:\print\releases\openrecordsamend.057
|
CONTACT: Michael J. Herzing Fax:
717-783-6839
|