Demand openness in state

It’s not easy going lower when you are already scraping the bottom of the barrel, but unless Pennsylvanians demand more of their representatives on an open-records law, things could get worse.

The House and Senate are debating measures that, in theory, are supposed to improve public access to government documents.

However, advocates warn that the current version of House Bill 443 actually could make things worse. And Pennsylvania already ranks near the bottom in the nation in terms of open-records laws.

It’s time to put the heat on representatives like we did two years ago following their middle-of-the-night pay increase.

The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association and others warn that loopholes and overly broad exemptions in the House bill could result in government keeping secret documents that the public has access to today. That’s not progress, and it’s not open government.

One of the concerns is the House measure would keep all government e-mail messages secret. No other state — including currently Pennsylvania — has such a prohibition, PNA reports. Rhode Island protects select constituent e-mails but provides access to others.

If Pennsylvania prohibits public access to all e-mails, it’s creating a way for conducting government in secret. Why put anything on paper, when you can do it by e-mails and keep the public in the dark?

That’s not open government.

Last month, an amendment to remove the exemption on e-mails from public disclosure was proposed in the House. It lost 127-69. Among central Pennsylvania representatives, only Republican Rick Geist, R-Altoona; and Scott Conklin, D-State College, voted to make e-mails subject to the open records law.

Republicans Mike Fleck of Huntingdon, Dick Hess of Bedford and Jerry Stern of Martinsburg and Democrats Camille ‘‘Bud’’ George of Houtzdale, Gary Haluska of Patton and Tom Yewcic of Johnstown voted to keep e-mails secret.

They need to hear from you that this is unacceptable.

There are numerous other problems with House Bill 443, and it should not pass without drastic revisions to make it better.

The Senate measure — Senate Bill 1 — is better, but it, too, needs some work, including making the General Assembly subject to the open records law. It’s ludicrous that state lawmakers seek to exempt themselves from the rules they impose on others.

More sunshine on the Legislature would do some good. If our senators and representatives are working on our behalf, what do they have to hide from us?

A government of the people, by the people and for the people shouldn’t keep any more secrets from the people than absolutely necessary.

There are reasonable areas when keeping some information classified is warranted. We don’t want government agencies giving out people’s Social Security numbers, their medical histories and/or detailed information that could interfere with an ongoing police investigation, etc.

But exemptions should be limited, and the presumption must be that unless there is a valid reason, the public has the right to see government documents.

The public showed two years ago with the repeal of the pay raise that they can force lawmakers to take action. We need to do that again.

Don’t allow lawmakers to slam the door in your face. It’s your government; make sure it’s open to you.