Pennsylvania\'s New Open Records Law

Pennsylvania's New Open Records Law

Scholarship Application Essay:

Discuss the impact of the open records law that took effect January 1, 2009, in the state of Pennsylvania, giving broader access to public records.

Quietly, at the beginning of 2009, the sun shone a bit brighter in Pennsylvania. This was not the type of sunshine that lights up streets and parks, but a bright beacon of enlightenment that shone in the state's file cabinets and computer databases. For many years, Pennsylvania had most restrictive open-records laws in the country, with a very narrow definition of what constituted a public record. The new Right to Know Act that took effect on January 1, 2009 declared that all state, county and local government records were open to the public unless specifically exempted because of greater legal and privacy concerns, like autopsy reports and transcripts 911 calls. The law placed the burden onto the government agency concealing the document to show why a record should be shielded from the public, rather than placing the burden onto the public as was previously the case.

What has been concealed as sensitive information on behalf of the security of the Keystone State? Well, the top-secrete salaries of the entire town council of Hamilton Township, Adams County, to cite just one example of The Philadelphia Inquirer. When the people of the state have more information about aspects of Pennsylvanian government that makes its politicians look greedy or hypocritical, politicians are more responsive to the popular will. People have better access to their own records that could contain potentially unflattering information and dispute the facts of the contents, if there are inaccuracies. And governments are less apt to keep private data about citizens that infringes citizen's privacy rights, if they know citizens will have access to such documents.