A new bill creates a legislative “Committee on Transparency” to conduct a broad study of open government policies, with an eye towards possibly creating a state “Transparency Ombudsman” in the future.
HB 1055 is sponsored by Rep. Peter Abbarno (R–Centralia) and creates a new Joint Legislative Committee on Transparency. It requires the new committee to work with JLARC, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Public Records Exemptions Accountability Committee (Sunshine Committee) on a study into the efficacy of creating a state Office of Transparency Ombudsman as an independent state agency to assist individuals with accessing public records.
The study must include a comprehensive review of other states’ open government laws and evaluate any states (specifically including Pennsylvania) with independent state agencies aimed at helping the public access public records. One of the things the study must look into is whether the creation of a state transparency agency helped reduce public records litigation. The study must also include an assessment of such an agency’s impact on: costs and workloads related to public records, public access to records and other public records resources, and on public records disputes as an alternative to litigation.
Cities are committed to open government and on providing fair and efficient access to public records. According to the 2023 JLARC Public Records Report, cities spent $32.8 million fulfilling public records requests, and $64.8 million managing and retaining records. Cities also faced 19 public records court cases, nearly double what cities experienced the prior year – though still down from peaks in 2020 and 2021. Cities support action to make the public records process more efficient and less prone to litigation, including reducing “vexatious” lawsuits that are primarily aimed at harassing or extracting settlements from local governments.
Dates to remember
HB 1055 is scheduled for a public hearing in the House State Government & Tribal Relations Committee on January 15 at 1:30 pm.