News reports this week noted the Pennsylvania Legislature is concealing with whom — and for which reasons — state lawmakers and their staff are meeting regarding how it spends its annual budget.

Legislative lawyers defended the vague descriptions for expenses and redactions in public financial records on the grounds that the state Constitution’s speech and debate clause is meant to protect lawmakers’ ability to speak and debate freely.

They also argue that revealing such information could interfere with the legislative body’s independence.

The reports cited a number of expenses — such as charges for staffers to stay overnight in Pittsburgh or a $265.49 lodging and parking charge for a Senate staff member traveling to Washington, D.C. — but do not include with whom they met or what they discussed.

While there might not be anything untoward in the expenses being shielded or the reasons for legislators’ meetings being concealed, this is not a good look for the state legislature.

Good-government advocates have argued the state’s speech and debate clause was intended to allow legislators to speak freely in floor debates and other proceedings.

We are currently in one of the most polarizing moments in our nation’s history. Goodwill rarely appears to stretch across the aisle.

But the one thing with which many Americans agree is that the public perception of government isn’t particularly good.

In January, the United States received its lowest score in eight years on the Corruption Perceptions Index, which is published annually by Transparency International and ranks countries by their “perceived levels of public sector corruption.”

The study found increasing frustration among U.S. residents with government corruption and a lack of trust in institutions.

According to World Population Review, a website dedicated to global population data and trends, Pennsylvania was eighth in a 2020 ranking of states based on the number of public corruption convictions.

We believe most state lawmakers aim to be conscientious in their actions that represent the state legislature. But even some not being transparent affects how residents perceive state government overall. And at a time when views of governmental accountability is already on the decline, concealing expenses and the purpose of meetings — and redactions in public spending records — does little to restore public faith in our institutions.

We’re in an election year. State lawmakers should make increasing transparency in state government a top priority.