Pennsylvania lawmakers send Sunshine Act meeting-notice fix to governor's desk

State Supreme Court ruling widened exceptions to the 24-hour agenda rule

Pennsylvania lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk on Wednesday that would close a loophole in Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act, the transparency law that generally requires local and state government bodies, including school boards and municipal councils, to publicize their voting agendas 24 hours before public meetings, subject to specified exceptions.

The bill was authored by state Sens. Patrick Stefano (R., Fayette) and Jarrett Coleman (R., Lehigh). It passed the state Senate unanimously in June and cleared the House 182-21 on Wednesday, a day that was likely to be the last formal voting day of the two-year session. A spokesperson for Shapiro said the governor intends to sign the measure, which both clarifies and claws back exceptions to the 24-hour rule.

The Sunshine Act’s advance-notice requirement rests on a straightforward rationale. The more people know about what their government is voting on, the better positioned they are to have a voice in the decision-making process, and the 24-hour posting window gives the public that knowledge ahead of a vote.

Under the law as currently written, exceptions allow government bodies to bypass the 24-hour notice for emergency matters; last-minute but “de minimus” issues; and matters a resident or taxpayer raises during a public meeting that require an on-the-spot vote or a referral to staff. An apparent fourth exception referenced in the law became the subject of the state Supreme Court’s dispute: a government board can add a last-minute item to its agenda for discussion by a simple majority vote.

In 2021, a school board in Lehigh County used that language to add a last-minute item to its voting agenda and ratify a teachers’ union contract. Coleman sued at the time, arguing that the majority-vote clause was not intended to stand alone and had to come into play only if one of the other exceptions applied. The state Supreme Court disagreed.

Good-government advocates almost immediately warned that the ruling could lead government bodies to add votes on potentially thorny or unpopular issues. The warning concerned what the widened exceptions could allow, not a reported outcome: advocates said governments might use the provision to add such votes to meeting agendas with little advance notice.

The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, which supported closing the loophole, said it was aware of one instance involving controversy over the 24-hour rule since the court decision. Spotlight PA is a member of the association.

In December, the Greater Latrobe School Board in suburban Pittsburgh voted to hire a new solicitor. The hiring item was publicized in a meeting agenda 24 hours in advance, but certain key details were not included in its description.

Stefano and Coleman’s bill clarifies that the majority-vote clause is a procedural tactic rather than a standalone exception. The change would reach the local and state government bodies governed by the Sunshine Act, including school boards and municipal councils, and is intended to prevent a simple majority vote alone from serving as the basis for a last-minute agenda addition.

State Rep. Robert Freeman (D., Northampton) introduced a similar bill. In addition to closing the loophole, Freeman’s proposal would have added a new exception allowing for votes on minor and specific administrative matters, such as some permit approvals and low-cost municipal repairs, if delaying a vote would create undue hardship.

In an interview this week, Freeman said he made his bill more expansive because groups representing townships and counties raised concerns that local jurisdictions would be hampered when carrying out legitimate business. He said he wanted to give those groups more flexibility while upholding the spirit of the Sunshine Act and its goal of increasing voter participation in government.

Freeman said he believes his proposal was the better of the two, but he supports closing what could have been a dangerous loophole, particularly as municipalities around Pennsylvania are considering difficult issues such as whether to allow data centers to operate within their borders. “This,” he said of the legislative effort to clarify the law, “is designed to build accountability.”

In a statement Wednesday, Coleman said, “Transparency only works when the public can see what’s coming,” adding, “Today’s … vote sends a clear message that Pennsylvanians deserve notice before their local governments act on consequential matters, not after.”

The bill now awaits Gov. Shapiro’s signature, which his spokesperson said he intends to provide. It is the legislature’s response to a ruling that good-government advocates warned could let votes on potentially thorny or unpopular issues reach meeting agendas with little notice.