Sunshine Act
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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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."
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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
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