State lawmakers are poised to limit what local governments can add to a meeting agenda on the fly.

House Bill 2146 recently passed the House of Representatives Local Government Committee and now advances to consideration by the full House of Representatives. The bill is a response to a November state Supreme Court ruling in Coleman v. Parkland School District that the Parkland School District had appropriately used what is known as the majority vote exception when it added a union contract that had been agreed upon by the school district and union to the agenda that night by majority vote and then approved the contract later in the same meeting. A district resident challenged the vote, saying it violated the state’s Sunshine Law because the public didn’t have an opportunity to review the contract before the school board vote. The state Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school district.

“Due to the way this section of the Sunshine Act is written, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court interpreted this majority vote procedure as a valid exception to the 24-hour rule. This allows the 24-hour rule to be circumvented by allowing virtually any matter to be considered without giving the public 24-hour notice,” said Rep. Robert Freeman, sponsor of House Bill 2146.

In our view House Bill 2146 shouldn’t be needed. Of course, our view still believes in unicorns and mermaids. In the real world House Bill 2146 is absolutely needed. We saw during this week’s Warren County School District board meeting that the 24-hour majority vote rule was a hot topic locally, and in our opinion the state should answer clearly what is and isn’t allowed to be included as a last-minute addition to a meeting agenda.

Freeman is right. The Supreme Court’s ruling would allow local governments too easily to add items to meeting agendas at the last minute under the guise of poor timing or things coming together at the last minute. Such things aren’t true emergencies.

They are inconveniences to boards that don’t want to call special meetings to allow for proper public notification. The exceptions to the Sunshine Law included in Freeman’s bill are, in our view, reasonable and allow local governments the leeway needed to react quickly.

The state Legislature was smart to include exceptions to the Sunshine Law. But it’s wise for governments at all levels to remember that the exception shouldn’t become the rule when it comes to public notification.