Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records and the Right-to-Know law

Guest: Terry Mutchler

Pennsylvania had long been considered one of the least transparent states in the country until 2008 when lawmakers rewrote the Commonwealth’s open-records law. The Right-to-Know Law mandated the creation of an independent Office of Open Records to handle requests and appeals for information and has made it easier for citizens to have access to documents that shed light on how government works and how much it spends. Now, legislators in Harrisburg are considering changes to the law to address some issues that have arisen since it was originally passed. Joining us in the studio this morning is TERRY MUTCHLER, executive director of the Office of Open Records. We’ll talk with her about the success of the open records initiative in Pennsylvania and how it has evolved and get her reaction how some of the proposed changes to the law might and might not make it more effective.

(Photo: AP Photo/Seth Perlman)