Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 8, 2013 03:43 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Kerry A. Benninghoff |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Right to Know - Exemptions |
| In the near future, I will be reintroducing HB 2066 from the 2011-12 Legislative Session. It is not a secret that records of state-related institutions, such as Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University and Lincoln University, are largely exempt from public access under the Right to Know Law. Currently, the law requires only that these institutions file an annual report with the Governor, the General Assembly, the Auditor General and the State Library, indicating the salaries of their officers and directors and the highest 25 salaries paid to employees of the institution. Interestingly, and in contrast to the broad exemption afforded to records of state-related institutions, records of the Commonwealth’s state-owned universities are presumed to be public records. Both types of institutions are supported by taxpayer dollars. Thus, I do not understand why the standard that applies to Millersville, Shippensburg, Indiana or West Chester universities should not apply to Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln. It is disturbing to think what we and the public could have known about the revelations at Penn State if the Right to Know Law had offered greater access to that institution’s records. For this reason and others, I intend to introduce legislation that will amend the Right to Know Law to apply the access requirements currently imposed on state-owned universities to state-related institutions. Under my bill, records of state-related institutions will be presumed to be public records and treated in a manner similar to the records of many other state and local agencies. I hope that you will join me in cosponsor this legislation! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Amy Noel anoel@pahousegop.com or call my office 717-783-1918. FORMER COSPONSORS: AUMENT, BLOOM, BROOKS , R. BROWN, CALTAGIRONE , COHEN , CONKLIN , CREIGHTON , CUTLER , DAVIDSON, DeWEESE , DUNBAR, EVANKOVICH, J. EVANS , GINGRICH , GOODMAN, GROVE, HANNA , HARKINS , HARRIS , HELM , HICKERNELL , HUTCHINSON , JOSEPHS , KAUFFMAN , F. KELLER, KNOWLES, KORTZ , LAWRENCE, MAJOR , MILLARD , MOUL , MUNDY , MURPHY, MURT , MUSTIO , PERRY , PICKETT , RAPP , REICHLEY , ROAE , SCAVELLO , SCHRODER , STEPHENS, TALLMAN, TOEPEL, VULAKOVICH , WHITE , GILLEN, SONNEY , DALEY , CLYMER , DeLUCA , SWANGER , HORNAMAN , DENLINGER , GABLER, FABRIZIO , COX , THOMAS and QUINN Thank you! |
Introduced as HB61