On June 30th, Governor Tom Wolf signed into law a bill that amends the Sunshine Act, or “Open Meetings Law,” to require state government agencies, local municipalities, and school districts to post an agenda online no later than 24 hours before the start of a public meeting.  

“The opportunity to review an agenda before a public meeting is a positive step towards increasing government accountability and citizen participation,” Office of Open Records Executive Director Liz Wagenseller said. “Access to timely and relevant information is crucial to promoting open and knowledgeable dialogue between citizens and government officials, and we look forward to the continued work of the legislature to improve government responsiveness and transparency.” 

Opinion:

Locally, most agendas are already posted online 24 hours prior, however, as someone who covers lots of local meetings, 24 hours is still too close to the meeting time to be truly effective. It should be 72 hours.