Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law is about 14 years old, and although it is one of the best in the nation to ensure government transparency, it’s in serious need of upgrading.

To this end, the Senate State Government Committee, chaired by David Argall, R-Schuylkill, held a recent hearing to take testimony from those who have a vested interest in the proposed legislation intended to plug the gaps of some of the current law’s deficiencies.

While there was general support for two Senate bills (488 and 492) and one House bill (2524), there were some objections and suggestions, too.

In setting the stage for the hearings, Argall said that since the Right-to-Know Law was adopted in 2008, “many have contacted us with the belief that the law is in dire need of upgrading.”

Committee member Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in the November general election, said SB 488 will bring greater transparency to our state-related universities, such as Penn State, including budget and salary information, which are currently exempt from the Right-to-Know Law. Mastriano noted that Pennsylvania is one of just three states that exempt university records. “Since these institutions receive significant taxpayer money,” Mastriano said, “having access to this part of their records is necessary.” The other proposal (SB 492) would open the records of campus police departments and economic development and industrial development authorities.

The committee heard testimony from a variety of organizations, including the Office of Open Records, local school boards, local government officials and a representative of the news media.

One area of concern is the “dramatic increase” in Right-to-Know requests since the COVID-19 pandemic began. To address this, there is a provision in the proposed legislation that would allow those receiving Right-to-Know requests to refuse those from “vexatious requesters,” a provision strongly objected to by Elizabeth Randol, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union. Requests would also be denied from those in prison, parties in a lawsuit against agencies, and commercial requesters, according to the proposed legislation.

Randol argued that the identity of the requester is irrelevant. “The only question is whether the record is a public record. If it is, then all members of the public are entitled access to it, regardless of who they are or why they want it.”

Adoption of this law could thwart the efforts of individuals such as a former Lehighton Area School Board member who frequently filed Right-to-Know requests to get access to information from which he felt he was being deprived.

Jonathan Berger, senior director of government affairs with the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, and two board members from south central Pennsylvania, said that two of the unintended consequences of the Right-to-Know law were (1) the ability of for-profit enterprises to use the law to gather information to generate revenue at taxpayer expense and (2) the ability of requesters to use the law to “harass, punish or extort” the operations of an agency.

Berger said school district budgets are negatively impacted by the demands of commercial and vexatious requesters. “Sometimes,” he said, “depending on the nature of the requests, it is necessary to hire additional staff.”

Berger said that a provision in the proposed HB 2524 requiring agencies to prove intent of disruption by “clear and convincing evidence” “will be all but impossible for an agency to prove since agencies are forbidden by law to ask a requester’s intent.”

Liz Waggenseller, who began serving a six-year term as executive director of the Office of Open Records in 2021, said that there has been a 50% increase in requests in the past decade. “We see no sign in the surge abating,” she said in predicting another record-breaking number of requests in 2022. She explained that her office serves as a quasi-judicial agency which hears appeals for records denied by state or local agencies.

Brad Simpson, president of the Pennsylvania News Media Association, testified that it is crucial that taxpayers be able to access public records to deal with unprecedented situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said that the number of PNA legal hotline calls has increased dramatically, now numbering about 2,000 a year, more than half of which deal with public access issues.

He said Senate Bills 488 and 492 are “positive steps forward in the direction of better public access to records.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.