Opinion: Public records verify government activity
July 24, 2009 Open records | New RTK Law | Volunteer fire companies | Public notice law | SB 851 | HB 1667
OPINION
By Deborah Musselman
Director of Government Affairs
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association
Ok, let’s count up the number of bills PNA is fighting as we wait for the budget to get done. There hasn’t been a lot of activity in the Senate lately – maybe they are waiting for the House to do something – but over in the people’s chamber, we see a Monday morning July 27 House State Government Committee vote scheduled on House Bill 1667, sponsored by Rep. Mike Hanna (D., Clinton). The bill would add “birth dates” to the list of protected information in the new Right-to-Know Law. And that’s on top of five public notice advertising bills – two that would move notices to shoppers and three that would move them to the Internet.
Not to be outdone, the Senate recently adopted Sen. Pileggi’s Senate Bill 851 by a vote of 47-1, with only Sen. Jim Ferlo voting ‘no.’ The bill would exempt volunteer fire companies and similar entities from the Right to Know Law, overturning a recent Office of Open Records ruling. The OOR ruled that volunteer fire companies are governmental entities because of the governmental function they perform, and we agree.
The above bills are not the only ones that would weaken our new open records law, half a dozen have been introduced, but House Bill 1667 is the first to be called up in the House. “Privacy” concerns, you might recall, were raised frequently by those seeking to close government records. Identity theft is a concern, of course, but we know that it won’t be prevented by sowing confusion and reducing the accuracy of public records. This bill contradicts other public access laws and rules, such as those relating to voter registration and court records, and we’re asking the Committee to reject this proposal. We’ve got our list of ‘fixes’ too, if they really want to open up the new law.
We’ve said it before, but it really is all about the public’s right to know – public records verify current and past government activity, and public notices tell us what government is planning in our own backyard. We heard recently about a resident in the southeast who spent a lot of time working with the ad people at her local paper, right after she had paid her tax bill, documenting that she was indeed paid up. She wanted to get her name off the list of “outstanding taxes” that her county assessment office had just sent in for publication. She knew people would read it, and she did not want her name in the paper. (Yes, they worked with her and pulled her name.)
We wonder – would she have been as worried if that list had just gone up on the Internet? The public has a right to know that kind of information, and burying it on some local government website – which could number in the thousands – is not the way to keep people apprised of what’s going on in their communities. Local officials are still beating the drums for Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith’s House Bill 795 (D., Chester), but we’re working hard to craft a solution that keeps the information in print, where it belongs.
Have you talked to your state reps lately? If not, please reach out and ask them if they’ve considered the following:
By Deborah Musselman
Director of Government Affairs
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association
Ok, let’s count up the number of bills PNA is fighting as we wait for the budget to get done. There hasn’t been a lot of activity in the Senate lately – maybe they are waiting for the House to do something – but over in the people’s chamber, we see a Monday morning July 27 House State Government Committee vote scheduled on House Bill 1667, sponsored by Rep. Mike Hanna (D., Clinton). The bill would add “birth dates” to the list of protected information in the new Right-to-Know Law. And that’s on top of five public notice advertising bills – two that would move notices to shoppers and three that would move them to the Internet.
Not to be outdone, the Senate recently adopted Sen. Pileggi’s Senate Bill 851 by a vote of 47-1, with only Sen. Jim Ferlo voting ‘no.’ The bill would exempt volunteer fire companies and similar entities from the Right to Know Law, overturning a recent Office of Open Records ruling. The OOR ruled that volunteer fire companies are governmental entities because of the governmental function they perform, and we agree.
The above bills are not the only ones that would weaken our new open records law, half a dozen have been introduced, but House Bill 1667 is the first to be called up in the House. “Privacy” concerns, you might recall, were raised frequently by those seeking to close government records. Identity theft is a concern, of course, but we know that it won’t be prevented by sowing confusion and reducing the accuracy of public records. This bill contradicts other public access laws and rules, such as those relating to voter registration and court records, and we’re asking the Committee to reject this proposal. We’ve got our list of ‘fixes’ too, if they really want to open up the new law.
We’ve said it before, but it really is all about the public’s right to know – public records verify current and past government activity, and public notices tell us what government is planning in our own backyard. We heard recently about a resident in the southeast who spent a lot of time working with the ad people at her local paper, right after she had paid her tax bill, documenting that she was indeed paid up. She wanted to get her name off the list of “outstanding taxes” that her county assessment office had just sent in for publication. She knew people would read it, and she did not want her name in the paper. (Yes, they worked with her and pulled her name.)
We wonder – would she have been as worried if that list had just gone up on the Internet? The public has a right to know that kind of information, and burying it on some local government website – which could number in the thousands – is not the way to keep people apprised of what’s going on in their communities. Local officials are still beating the drums for Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith’s House Bill 795 (D., Chester), but we’re working hard to craft a solution that keeps the information in print, where it belongs.
Have you talked to your state reps lately? If not, please reach out and ask them if they’ve considered the following:
- Between 30 and 40% of Pennsylvanians do not have Internet access. Do you care that moving public notices to the Internet would completely cut off access to such a large percentage of the population?
- These bills would allow each local government to post public notices on its own Web site. In other words, public notices could soon be in over 2,500 different places. How could that possibly be seen to improve access?
- It is bad public policy – and could threaten due process – for government to control its own notices. Although most public servants are hardworking, honest people, the headlines are, unfortunately, full of examples why government cannot police itself – from the ongoing bonusgate investigation, to the former Luzerne county judges who pled guilty to federal charges, to former Senator Fumo’s criminal conviction.
