A bill before the state House of Representatives aims to mend gaps in Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know law. It actually may do more harm than good.
The bill was passed by the Senate on Sept. 24. Including today, there are six days left in the legislative session, and Senate Bill 444 is now before the House. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
[…]
Read More… from Editorial: This Right-to-Know bill may set back transparency in PA
When I sat down Tuesday in front of the State Government Committee to testify in support of House Bill 2408, I had no idea what to expect or how warm the group would be to this significant open government legislation.
In my 13 months here, I haven't felt a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings toward the free flow of information between government and the people it serves.
[…]
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett should get off the fence and reappoint Monroe County native Terry Mutchler to a second term heading Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records. Mutchler's six-year term ended in April, and she and her busy staff have been in limbo ever since. The work the OOR does is vital. The office advocates for Pennsylvania citizens, helping to ensure access to government records and training public officials on how to comply with the law.
[…]
Read More… from Editorial: Corbett should OK open records chief
The woman hired six years ago to oversee sweeping changes to Pennsylvania's open records law is waiting to see if she still has a job. More than three months since her six-year term expired as executive director of the Office of Open Records, Terry Mutchler doesn't know whether Gov. Tom Corbett will reappoint her to a second term.
[…]
Read More… from Pennsylvania’s open records director sitting in limbo
Two loaded and two empty crude oil trains operate daily over Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor in Maryland and Delaware, according a document submitted by the passenger railroad in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Last month, Norfolk Southern, the freight railroad that operates the crude oil trains, went to court in Maryland to block the state Department of the Environment from making the same information available to McClatchy and the Associated Press.
[…]
Read More… from Amtrak provides crude oil train details states had withheld
State Sen. Lloyd Smucker is making headway in his efforts toward a more transparent and accountable state government.
Smucker, a West Lampeter Township Republican, is chairman of the Senate State Government Committee.
[…]
It’s become more than apparent since its passage in 1998 that Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act has holes that need to be filled if we are ever to ensure truly open government. Efforts have been made to amend the act and tighten its language, but it seems our Legislature has had more important things to do.
[…]
Read More… from Editorial: When will PA Legislature let the sunshine in?
The open records law has been viewed by most as a step toward transparency and accountability. But it has its problems. That’s why state Sen. Lloyd Smucker and other lawmakers in the Senate State Government Committee are proposing some changes.
The first area to be updated deals with how the law applied to the four state-related universities — Penn State, Temple, Pittsburgh and Lincoln. The committee unanimously agreed Wednesday that those schools will be required to create searchable and downloadable databases on their freely accessible public websites.
[…]
Read More… from Effort to make state-related universities in PA more transparent clears key hurdle
When it comes to open and transparent government aimed at serving the people, East Earl Township supervisors must not have gotten the memo.
Supervisors Earl Kreider, Joe Shriver and David Zimmerman have been running the government based on the idea that the less the citizens know about what is going on, the better. They have been good, in fact far too good, at operating behind closed doors.
[…]
A state watchdog group says Philadelphia City Council willfully ignored Pennsylvania’s open-meetings law this past week by gathering behind closed doors — not once, but twice.
[…]
Read More… from Philadelphia City Council Is Ignoring Sunshine Laws, Watchdog Group Says
