By Brad Bumsted
State Capitol Reporter
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

HARRISBURG — Under legislation before the House, state and local government agencies would be required to record secret meetings so that, if challenged by citizens, a court later could determine whether the body violated the state's open meetings law.

The bill would provide immunity from prosecution for officials who report violations.

The House State Government Committee took testimony Wednesday on the bill by Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Elizabeth Township. Chairman Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, said he will ask for a committee vote, though it's uncertain when.

The bill is about “the public right to know how we arrive at their decisions,” Saccone said.

Metcalfe said the fine for violating the so-called Sunshine Act — $100 to $1,000 on the first offense, and $500 to $2,000 on the second — isn't high enough to deter officials from illegally closing meetings to the public. The bill would not change the fines, but Saccone said it is a change he would favor.

Certain exceptions, such as legal and personnel issues, are permitted under the law for “executive sessions,” but witnesses say private sessions often are abused.

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, said during her more than seven years with the group, calls about Sunshine Act issues “remained steady or increased each year.”

Melewsky said after the hearing that she is aware of only two instances in which local officials were fined for violating the law.

The value of an audio or video recording of an executive session is “irrefutable evidence” of what transpired, she said. A judge could review the recording to determine if a violation occurred.

Kim de Bourbon, executive director of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition, said the law could be improved with a presumption that meetings are open to the public. That would parallel the state's Right to Know Law, which places the burden on government officials to show why a record should not be made public.

Penalties increased two years ago, “but higher penalties are meaningless when violations are impossible to prove,” de Bourbon said.

Elam Herr, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, noted that local officials face “more stringent requirements” for open meetings than the General Assembly, which exempted its caucus sessions. Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate typically meet secretly before conducting public floor sessions.

The Sunshine Act should be “fair and equitable for all parties involved, without imposing an undue burden on municipalities,” Herr said, warning that the bill “would impose a significant unfunded mandate on local government boards.”

Saccone called the cost issue “a red herring.”