Sunshine Week still needs to be celebrated
The act ensures the public’s right to witness decisions being made on their behalf that use taxpayer funds.
Why do we celebrate “Sunshine Week” each year in March?
Imagine this: What would the reaction be today if state senators and representatives voted in secret to approve Gov. Tom Wolf’s multi-billiondollar income tax and spending increases? Or if mayors and school directors, county commissioners, township supervisors and city and borough council members debated and voted — again, in secret session — to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on new buildings all across Pennsylvania, with absolutely zero public notice. The public would be justifiably outraged.
While this may seem like something out of the dark ages, it was not that long ago that these debates and votes took place in the dark every day, with no one from the public or the media in the room, and the public had no other option other than to simply complain.
In those days, many state and local government meetings across Pennsylvania were closed to the public, and important decisions were made with no public input.
One of the most important Pennsylvania laws that improved transparency is the Sunshine Act, which was first passed in 1986. The Sunshine Act ensures the public’s right to witness decisions being made on their behalf that use public taxpayer funds.
Before this law was passed, meetings could be — and often were — held far from the view of the public. After its passage, all officials’ actions and meetings held for the purpose of making a decision needed to take place in a public meeting.
Today, every meeting of any state Senate and House standing committee is required to be publicized in advance. Voting sessions on the floor of the House and Senate are televised live across the state, from Erie to Philadelphia, on each and every session day.
The senators and representatives of the 1950s and 1960s could not have imagined such scrutiny.
Over the years, our Sunshine Act was strengthened to allow for even greater transparency.
In 1993, local governments were required to allow the public to make comments. In 1998, local governments were required to allow public comment before taking official action at a public meeting.
In 2011, penalties were increased for officials who participate in a meeting that violates the Sunshine Act.
Another important measure that increased transparency is the Right to Know Law, which requires state and local government agencies to make public records accessible by establishing a base line expectation that all state records should be made public and individual agencies should have to prove why any requested records should not be made public. This law provides a fair, simple, and no-cost method to appeal when a request has been denied.
If this last year of living under COVID-19 pandemic restrictions has taught us anything, remember this: A free society can only exist as long as its institutions remain free and transparent to the public.
We have made considerable progress in the past 40 years to “let the sun shine in” but, as we have seen throughout the last 12 months, there is still more work to be done.
Remember that a free society can only exist as long as its institutions remain free and transparent to the public.