Statement of Larry Frankel, Legislative Director
ACLU of Pennsylvania FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 26, 2007 PHILADELPHIA - The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is encouraged by the latest proposal for reforming Pennsylvania's open records law. We believe that House Bill 2072, which was introduced on November 21, 2007, addresses many of our key concerns: House Bill 2072 creates a presumption that a record in the possession of a government agency is a public record and should be made available to the public. House Bill 2072 places the burden on agencies to show why a public record should be exempt from public access. House Bill 2072 looks at the content of a record rather than the form in which it is maintained in determining whether a record is a public record. House Bill 2072 recognizes that citizens have an interest in the privacy of personal information and contains reasonable exceptions to protect those privacy interests. House Bill 2072 establishes an advocate (in this bill the Office of Open Records Clearinghouse) with specific duties that should result in better disclosure practices by all agencies. The ACLU recognizes that House Bill 2072 is based on the language of Senate Bill 1 and the good work that has been done on that bill. We think that it improves on that legislation by making sure that the presumption applies to legislative agencies as well as Commonwealth and local agencies and that the burden of proof is on any agency that seeks to invoke one of the law's exceptions. We also believe that it appropriately focuses on substance of a record rather than form in which it is created or maintained by not including a blanket exemption for e-mail. The ACLU commends the hard work of Senators and Representatives whose commitment to providing Pennsylvania with a strong Right-to-Know law is reflected in House Bill 2072. We are encouraged to see that the legislative process is producing a better bill and look forward to even further progress by the General Assembly in providing Pennsylvanians with a truly improved Right-to-Know Law.
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