Opinion: Rendell should protect public right to know, veto bill on coroner records
OPINION
The (Easton) Express-Times Opinion Staff
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed 22 bills into law Tuesday, but left at least one critical piece of legislation untouched for more review — a bill that essentially turns coroners’ reports into state secrets, allowing the release only of minimal information, such as names and causes of death.
Rendell should veto this bill, and here’s why: Coroners work for the public. They should answer to the public. Their work should be subject to public review and the details of deaths — suspicious, violent and/or inexplicable deaths, especially — should be made public in a timely manner, as long as they don’t jeopardize an active police investigation.
The current law is already overly restrictive. Coroners are free to release any details of their work as soon and comprehensively as they like, but if they want they can wait until Jan. 31 of each year to file reports from the previous year. Then the reports are to be available for “inspection of all persons interested therein.”
House Bill 2477, now sitting on Rendell’s desk, would delete even that basic public access, mandating only the release of name and manner and cause of death. What this means is that coroners wouldn’t necessary have to reveal, for example, that a driver was drunk when he or she took out several lives in a horrific accident. Or whether a crane operator or bus driver was under the influence of drugs at the time of a fatality. Or whether, in the case of a probable homicide (or definitively not a homicide), the public has reason to think a killer might be at large. Often police make that call, but a coroner’s finding, issued in a timely way, can set the record straight.
Pennsylvania has made strides in recent years in making public records public. This would be a step backward. Rendell should stick up for the public’s right to know in this case — with a veto.
The (Easton) Express-Times Opinion Staff
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed 22 bills into law Tuesday, but left at least one critical piece of legislation untouched for more review — a bill that essentially turns coroners’ reports into state secrets, allowing the release only of minimal information, such as names and causes of death.
Rendell should veto this bill, and here’s why: Coroners work for the public. They should answer to the public. Their work should be subject to public review and the details of deaths — suspicious, violent and/or inexplicable deaths, especially — should be made public in a timely manner, as long as they don’t jeopardize an active police investigation.
The current law is already overly restrictive. Coroners are free to release any details of their work as soon and comprehensively as they like, but if they want they can wait until Jan. 31 of each year to file reports from the previous year. Then the reports are to be available for “inspection of all persons interested therein.”
House Bill 2477, now sitting on Rendell’s desk, would delete even that basic public access, mandating only the release of name and manner and cause of death. What this means is that coroners wouldn’t necessary have to reveal, for example, that a driver was drunk when he or she took out several lives in a horrific accident. Or whether a crane operator or bus driver was under the influence of drugs at the time of a fatality. Or whether, in the case of a probable homicide (or definitively not a homicide), the public has reason to think a killer might be at large. Often police make that call, but a coroner’s finding, issued in a timely way, can set the record straight.
Pennsylvania has made strides in recent years in making public records public. This would be a step backward. Rendell should stick up for the public’s right to know in this case — with a veto.
