(West Chester) Daily Local News, April 15

State representative calls for "attention" to open records

By REP. DUANE D. MILNE, R-167th
Guest Columnist for the Daily Local News

We are living in a time in Pennsylvania where citizens have strongly, and quite rightly, questioned some of the decisions of our state Legislature over the past few years. This is of concern because it is absolutely essential to a properly functioning democracy that citizens have faith in their government, and I am fully committed to restoring that faith and confidence by ensuring that meaningful reforms are enacted. It is a new day in the state Legislature, and real reform has gained momentum.

The Legislature has accomplished a lot in the early part of this 192nd session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. On March 13, House Resolution 108 was passed unanimously, and it included many reforms to improve the operations of the Legislature. For example, through this resolution, we have mandated that all House committee and floor votes be posted on the Internet for easy public access; required that House financial records be made available by request, which eliminates having to come to Harrisburg to see them; and that all House sessions will neither begin before 8 a.m. nor end later than 11 p.m., so that business is conducted “in the open” in normal hours where as many people as possible can view the proceedings.

There is also action in the arena of ethics. In our reform effort so far, we have mandated that state representatives be stripped of leadership positions while certain criminal charges are pending. In addition, representatives no longer can personally create or maintain not-for-profit organizations for the primary purpose of receiving or distributing state tax dollars. Questionable events in the past have led to this particular reform, and the House Ethics Committee will provide strong oversight of this matter.

I hope that, and indeed would urge, that the reform momentum continue. In the coming weeks, I would like to see attention focused on improving Pennsylvania’s open records laws, as the Commonwealth lags behind many other states in this regard. The idea of holding a state constitutional convention to review all operations of state government should at least be explored. There must be attention paid to how to eliminate “ghost voting” in the Legislature; that is, how to make sure state representatives actually are present when votes are taken on the House floor.

My goal is that these and other reforms contribute to transforming Pennsylvania state government into a model of accountability to those who pay the bill, the hard-working taxpayers of Pennsylvania.

(State Rep. Duane D. Milne, R-167th, of Malvern, can be contacted at (610) 251-1070.)

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