Open meetings
NEWS ON OPEN GOVERNMENT ISSUES

State court: ESU must open records

May 25, 2010 |
Donor records relating to scholarships and a signature East Stroudsburg University building must be made available to the Pocono Record, a state court ruled Monday in the most recent turn in a 15-month-long legal battle. In a precedent-setting decision, the Commonwealth Court ruled 7-0 to uphold the substance of a previous ruling by the state's open records agency. Read More...

Newspaper contends Highlands violated state Sunshine Law

April 20, 2010 |
Attorneys for the Valley News Dispatch and Highlands School District argued before a state appeals court yesterday over accusations the school board illegally shut out the public from part of a June meeting. Read More...

Opinion: Public matters can't hide behind law

April 03, 2010 |
Pennsylvania, with its woefully corrupt state Legislature and untold units of local government that also are no strangers to corruption, needs an effective Sunshine Law more so than most other states. Read More...

Stadium Authority meeting criticized

March 31, 2010 |
Pittsburgh's Stadium Authority violated state open-meeting rules when a majority of members spoke privately by phone a day before the authority's first public meeting this year, a media law expert said Tuesday. Read More...

Opinion: Clouding up Sunshine Law

March 22, 2010 |
The "good old boys (and girls)" in Harrisburg are covering each other's butts again. We aren't supposed to notice, because a House-passed bill imposes higher fines for violating the open-meetings "Sunshine Act." That's all we are supposed to notice: Higher fines. But the House, which is in bed with school directors and teacher unions, tacked on a provision allowing secretive closed meetings for "safety and security" reasons.
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Opinion: Bill puts open meetings in peril

March 21, 2010 |
The devil is in the details and, if you're the pessimistic type, you can find Lucifer's fingerprints all over a small item in legislation passed by the state House five days ago. Read More...

Opinion: House passes damaging open meetings bill

March 18, 2010 |
The past few weeks have seen an increase in activity at the Capitol that causes concern. We were discouraged on March 10, when the full House, reviewing a bill intended to strengthen sanctions dished out (theoretically) for violating the Sunshine Act, voted to insert a ‘safety and security’ exemption for going into executive session, for school boards. Read More...

Opinion: Citizens have duty to monitor government

March 14, 2010 |
Today marks the beginning of Sunshine Week, a celebration of open government — and an exhortation to demand it ceaselessly. Open government is a core principle of our American form of democracy. Government employees — both elected officials and non-elected workers — are directly accountable to the people. In a citizens' government, citizens and the press are the watchdogs, making sure officials remain accountable to the people. Keeping access open to officials and to public documents is essential if citizens are to maintain their freedom.
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Opinion: Minutes public after next meeting; recordings public when created

February 18, 2010 |
Q: I requested copies of a local agency’s minutes and audio recording from a meeting held in early December, 2009. I was denied on the basis that meeting minutes aren’t public until they have been formally approved, and the audio recording is exempt as a “personal use” record. There have been three meetings since early December. Can the agency deny access to minutes and the audio recording at this point? Read More...

Pennsylvania Sunshine Act: Improvements needed

January 18, 2010 |
The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association's fsummary of improvements needed in Pennsylvania's open meetings law, known as the "Sunshine Act." Read More...

Opinion: Cell phones may be used to record meetings

January 14, 2010 |
Q: I recently attended a public meeting and was told that I could not use my cell phone to record the proceedings because cell phones are not approved by the board as an appropriate recording device and because I didn’t get permission to record in advance. Can the agency do that? Read More...