When I ran for office in 2006, I pledged to help make government more open and accountable to the people it serves. The good news is that the state Legislature unanimously passed an Open Records bill which was then signed into law by Governor Rendell last week.

Open records is about giving the public easier access to the records of their elected officials and to the records of governmental bodies that use taxpayer dollars. This means that for the first time the:

• presumption is flipped from records being regarded as private to records being regarded as public.
  
• Pennsylvania Legislature is now included in the law.
  
• public will be able to see how their tax dollars are being spent in all three branches of government.
  

A state Office of Open Records will be created to assist residents seeking public records, and a uniform appeals process will be put into place to assist people who may be denied access to records. The bill will go into effect on January 1, 2009.

It's a win-win for Pennsylvanians, and I am proud to have been a part of this historic vote.

Honoring my campaign pledge, my Legislative Expense Records, going back a year, are available on my State House web site and are accessible via this link.

Additionally, the following were donated to my constituent office, reducing expenses: three desks, a conference table and six chairs, a beautiful painting, a plant, and some bookcases. The office rugs and curtains were purchased with my own money. All other furniture was purchased by the State and is loaned to our office.