Revised Right to Know Act still in need of changes
Dan Sleva
Issue date: 4/23/09 Section: Web Extras
In 2007, a lawsuit was filed to find out how much Joe Paterno made from Penn State to coach the Nittany Lions. Today that information is an open public record.
In 2006, WTAE sued PennDOT to release its list of dangerous roads and intersections and lost. Today, that list is now available for public scrutiny.
In the past, businesses being paid by the state or local municipalities could refuse to give any information requested about their contracts. Today, they have to comply with requests from the public or media.
On Jan. 1, 2009, Pennsylvania replaced its old Right To Know Act, which was known as one of the worst in the country, with one that expanded on the information available to citizens and journalists alike. While better, it still has over 30 exemptions. That is too many.
The new law, which replaces legislation written in 1957, was praised recently by the Citizen Media Law project on their Web site, www.citmedialaw.org. The Web site noted that the Better Government Association ranked the 1957 legislation's open record law 48 out of 50 for quality of public access.
"Although the law doesn't break any new ground for government access in general, the new Right-To-Know law will make the existing opaque regime more transparent. The law finally recognizes that agencies and officials are caretakers, and that government records belong to the public," according to Citizen Media Law's Web site.
The new law has many changes that will make information from government agencies and companies doing business with the government easier to obtain.
The biggest change in the new law, according to the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition in Harrisburg, is that government agencies now have the burden of proof to establish why a record should not be released. Before this new law was enacted, citizens requesting a record had the responsibility of establishing why a record should be made public.
All financial records from state courts, legislative records from the General Assembly and some legislative committees and commissions are now readily available through the new open record law.
In 2006, WTAE sued PennDOT to release its list of dangerous roads and intersections and lost. Today, that list is now available for public scrutiny.
In the past, businesses being paid by the state or local municipalities could refuse to give any information requested about their contracts. Today, they have to comply with requests from the public or media.
On Jan. 1, 2009, Pennsylvania replaced its old Right To Know Act, which was known as one of the worst in the country, with one that expanded on the information available to citizens and journalists alike. While better, it still has over 30 exemptions. That is too many.
The new law, which replaces legislation written in 1957, was praised recently by the Citizen Media Law project on their Web site, www.citmedialaw.org. The Web site noted that the Better Government Association ranked the 1957 legislation's open record law 48 out of 50 for quality of public access.
"Although the law doesn't break any new ground for government access in general, the new Right-To-Know law will make the existing opaque regime more transparent. The law finally recognizes that agencies and officials are caretakers, and that government records belong to the public," according to Citizen Media Law's Web site.
The new law has many changes that will make information from government agencies and companies doing business with the government easier to obtain.
The biggest change in the new law, according to the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition in Harrisburg, is that government agencies now have the burden of proof to establish why a record should not be released. Before this new law was enacted, citizens requesting a record had the responsibility of establishing why a record should be made public.
All financial records from state courts, legislative records from the General Assembly and some legislative committees and commissions are now readily available through the new open record law.
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