Nine Republicans recently issued a joint statement disagreeing with Gov. Tom Wolf’s actions regarding House Bill 2463, a government transparency bill.
The legislation would require state agencies to answer right-to-know (RTK) requests for records during the state’s disaster declaration. It would prevent the governor or his administration from suspending an agency’s process to answer requests or from directing an agency to ignore requests.
In addition, the bill strengthens penalties against state agencies that fail to comply with RTK requests.
The bill unanimously passed the General Assembly, but Wolf has said he is considering vetoing the bill.
“Leadership in a time like this is admittedly not easy when there is essentially no ‘playbook’ to follow,” the statement said. “What House Bill 2463 asks for is a window into the reasons behind why some of the difficult decisions are made. A business owner for instance has a right to know why his or her competitors were deemed ‘essential’ through the granting of waivers while their request was denied. At the height of the pandemic, counties saw neighboring counties progress through the governor’s ‘color-coded recovery plan’ and wondered why they didn’t move with them.
The statement was issued by State Reps. Stephanie Borowicz (R-Centre/Clinton), Martin Causer (R-Cameron/McKean/ Potter), Cris Dush (R-Jefferson/Indiana), Matt Gabler (R-Clearfield/Elk), Lee James (R-Venango/Butler), Donna Oberlander (R-Clarion/Armstrong/Forest), Clint Owlett (R-Tioga/Bradford/Potter), Kathy Rapp (R-Warren/Crawford/Forest) and Brad Roae (R-Crawford/Erie).