The most interesting thing about recent public hearings reforming state government, was that there was a lot of agreement about just one thing.
It was not about reducing (or enlarging) the size of the General Assembly. It was not about term limits.
It was about right to know.
As reported by The Associated Press, the Speaker's Commission on Legislative Reform has held three hearings on the topic of reform.
All kinds of issues have been brought up. Some are extreme (like shrinking the Legislature to 80 members from its current 253.) Some are ridiculous (like increasing the size of the Legislature to 500.)
But one theme keeps coming up: The Right to Know Law.
As it has involved in Pennsylvania, the Right to Know Law has been misnamed. Among the weakest such laws in the country, it should be called the Government's Right to Hide Law. It has yet, through many reiterations and reform efforts, to fully and finally clarify that government documents and meetings belong to the public. There are reasonable exceptions to open records -- like when they involve private data the government keeps on regular people. But there should be no exceptions regarding data the government keeps on itself.
The public seems to be realizing this problem, and is beginning to speak up.
Whether they are finally heard by the people with potentially the most to hide is another matter.
