New Pennsylvania rep says he will file FOIA reform bill
Passed along from SPJ's Pennsylvania Project Sunshine Chair, Susan Schwartz
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association
Fayette County's representative-elect Tim Mahoney has drafted a
bill requiring state government, including the long-exempt Legislature, to open
its records to public inspection within 10 business days of a request.
The language, which he intends to introduce as a bill in the first
week of the new session in January, has several elements that would radically
change the way Harrisburg handles public records requests.
According to a draft of Mahoney's bill, the public would have a
presumed right to internal government documents and the government agency would
have to prove why a record should remain secret.