HARRISBURG — Transparency legislation, House Bill 2463, which unanimously passed the Legislature, will become law without the governor’s signature.

Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover, authored House Bill 2463, and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association was one of the bill’s backers.

The law requires state agencies to answer the public’s questions submitted through Right-to-Know requests, as prescribed by law, during state of emergency declarations.

In response to the bill becoming law, Grove thanked everyone who spoke out in favor of freedom of the press and in defense of open government.

“For the past week or so, Gov. Tom Wolf has touted his reasons why he would veto House Bill 2463, all of which were debunked,” Grove said. “At the same time, numerous stakeholders, such as newspapers, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, and members of the House and Senate vocally raised their concerns on what a veto would mean for transparency in the Commonwealth. It would have meant the administration and state agencies under its umbrella could ignore valid questions from the public and the press.”

Both the state House of Representatives and Senate passed the bill unanimously.

“House Bill 2463 has a simple goal: To ensure the public has a route to hold its government accountable, even in times when a state of emergency declaration has been declared. A crisis is no reason for elected officials to ignore questions from the public,” Grove continued.

“This bill becoming law could not have happened without the support of all those who raised their voices in defense of an open government and the freedom of the press.”