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COMMENTARY State
Rep. Rick Taylor |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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Pennsylvania’s new Open Records law
On Feb. 14, I watched Gov. Ed Rendell place his signature on S.B. 1, making it Act 3 of 2008 and giving Pennsylvania one of the best Right-to-Know laws in the nation instead of one of the worst.
It could not have come too soon. The Pennsylvania General Assembly is still lacking the public’s confidence. Over the years, the trust of the public and the media has ebbed to such a point that virtually everything the legislature does is viewed with a jaundiced eye. Clearly, Harrisburg needed to change the way it does business. Newton’s first law of motion is quite appropriate: an object in motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. Business as usual and not taking action on long-overdue reforms is not the recipe for Pennsylvania’s government to regain its credibility.
Before taking office in 2006, I argued that the single best reform government could accomplish was to be open and make its activities transparent. In the last year, I backed that argument with active support of effective open records legislation.
Open access to public meetings and records is essential to government accountability. Taxpayers have a right to know what records exist and to have access to them; they paid for them. I strongly supported the new law's presumption that government records are open and that the state must prove that a record should be confidential rather than forcing the public to prove it should be available. The new law also, for the first time in state history, includes the legislature's financial and other records under the Right-to-Know law. It is my hope that by moving toward more open government we can begin to restore your faith in the General Assembly. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said: “Sunshine is the best antiseptic.”
Of course, not all documents ought to be open. For example, your Social Security number should not be available to the public, and there are other specific common-sense exceptions in the new law. But to be clear, these are narrow, specific exceptions.
Act 3 does not only affect Harrisburg. The new law also applies to local government in Pennsylvania, making them more accountable to you, as well.
However, there are still other key reforms that I believe need to happen to make government even more accountable to the citizens of Pennsylvania. We must change the way legislative redistricting is done every 10 years. Currently, legislative leaders decide how legislative districts are reapportioned.
As a result, House and Senate elections are less competitive and favor incumbents over challengers and the majority party. We must take reapportionment out of the hands of legislative insiders and give it to an independent panel whose members do not have a stake in the outcome.
There remains another goal we must achieve in responsibly reforming state government: campaign finance reform. Currently in Pennsylvania, there are no limits on individual campaign donations.
This is not the way it ought to be. Current law results in big donors getting disproportionate access to elected officials. It also has a chilling effect on those who may want to seek office but are dissuaded by the challenge of raising huge amounts of money to match the well-funded war chests of incumbents.
I contend that a person’s ability to raise money in no way demonstrates their ability to legislate. Our lax fund-raising laws preclude our government from including many talented and energetic people who might otherwise be exemplary public servants. That is why I am in the process of authoring a bill that would call for public financing of campaigns for the legislature and other statewide offices. With this desperately needed reform in place, we could settle the question of the government truly deserves – the public and not just well-heeled donors – and make open up public service to many more people.
With the governor’s signature on Act 3, Pennsylvania has taken a great step toward more accountable and responsive government. But the people of Pennsylvania should not be mollified by this one important step. Rather, it should be seen as momentum to ensure continued movement toward reform that is truly comprehensive and effective. I will continue the fight for reform and I urge everyone to make their legislator know they want more change and more reforms to make the well-being of the people the foremost concern of state government, and to make government more accountable in striving toward that goal.
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CONTACT: Joe Carlucci 215-441-1030 E-mail: jcarlucci@pahouse.net
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