New Open-Records Law Takes Effect in Pennsylvania

Open-records laws give citizens and reporters alike access to government documents at the local, state and federal levels. For years, Pennsylvania had what critics called the worst - meaning the most restrictive - open-records laws in the country.

Now, with the dawn of a new year, a much less restrictive open-records law has taken effect in the keystone state. The new law declares that all state, county and local government records are public unless specifically exempted. The state's previous Right to Know Act, written in 1957, had a very narrow definition of what constituted a public record, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The new law isn't perfect. It exempts things like 911 tapes and autopsy reports, which are open in many states.

But Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, tells the Inquirer the new law elevates Pennsylvania from being the worst state in the country as far as open records are concerned, and puts it "squarely in the middle."