HARRISBURG -- Advocates for a stronger open records law received a major boost Monday when a powerful senator decided to change his bill to place burden of proof for releasing records on the government rather than on citizens.
Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in an interview he has reversed course on a key provision of legislation aimed at improving the state's Right to Know law.
Currently, some contend Pennsylvania has one of the weakest open records laws in the nation. Under the existing law, records are generally presumed to be secret. Taxpayers must prove the records should be public.
Pileggi, the number two Republican in the GOP-controlled Senate, had decided to keep that aspect of the law the same when he filed SB 1 earlier this year. Several other bills to strengthen the law are pending in the House and Senate. Pileggi's was the only bill keeping the presumption the same.
Pileggi said he has decided to pursue a new draft of the bill that would require government agencies to prove why a document should be kept private instead of making citizens prove why the document should be openly available.
"I have decided to pursue that approach," he said.
Earlier, Pileggi had decided to leave the presumption the same due to a concern over increased litigation, "My fundamental concerns are still valid," said Pileggi. The bill may take longer to pass and it still may prompt litigation, Pileggi said.
But Pileggi made the decision to alter his bill after a public hearing Monday showed considerable support for changing the burden of proof to make open records more accessible to citizens.
"We are very pleased to learn of [Sen. Pileggi's decision to alter the burden of proof]," said Deborah Musselman, director of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. "We look forward to working with the senator to move this bill through the Senate."
Larger text
Smaller text
Print this article
E-mail this article
