Earlier today, the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee released a report entitled “Costs to Implement the Right-to-Know Law.” The report was prepared pursuant to House Resolution 50 of the 2017-18 legislative session, sponsored by Rep. Kate Harper.

I was invited to address the committee prior to the report’s release. Here are my opening comments:

Thank you, Mister Chairman, members of the committee, executive director. I appreciate the opportunity to say a few words.

The Right-to-Know Law is for the people. It gives the public the ability to review the actions of their government and to hold those in power accountable for their actions.

The Right-to-Know Law – as demonstrated by this committee’s study, as demonstrated by the Office of Open Records’ own study, as demonstrated by countless stories from all across our great Commonwealth – is working.

The public has far more access to the transactions and activities of government than ever before. That is, indisputably, a good thing.

Some say the Right-to-Know Law is a burden on agencies.

Transparency is not a burden. Transparency breeds trust. And for those of us privileged to hold government positions, transparency is a duty. It is – or should be – as fundamental as anything an agency does.

This is not to say the Right-to-Know Law can’t be improved. It can.

We should restructure the fee schedule for commercial requests. We should eliminate and scale back some of the exceptions. And this report contains several excellent recommendations. I look forward to working with members of this committee and others in the General Assembly on legislation to make improvements.

But the fundamental truth – a truth confirmed by the data in this report – is that the Right-to-Know Law is working for the people, as intended, and it is working very well indeed.

Thank you. I’m happy to answer any questions.