The Eagle published two stories this week on a state law with a good purpose, but little capacity for enforcement.

Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act — which is similar to laws with the same intent in other states — is aimed at greater accountability. It requires agencies to deliberate and take official action on business in meetings that are open to the public.

The law requires that the public is given prior notice, and attendees can participate and comment on matters discussed in meetings before action is taken on them.

The reason for the Eagle’s coverage of the law is because Lancaster Township supervisors held more than a dozen meetings outside the bounds of the Sunshine Act. Township officials have since told the Eagle they would make greater efforts to comply with it.

The problem with the Sunshine Act is that it is very difficult to enforce.

A University of Pennsylvania study noted the open meeting act was considered by some to be a “right without a remedy,” but ultimately concluded that the “Sunshine Law may be, on the contrary, a right with too many remedies,” none of which will get you very far.

Melissa Melewsky, an attorney with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said although the Office of Open Records trains entities on the law, neither it nor any other agency has the authority to enforce it. She called it a “citizen-enforced law.”

The only way to enforce it is through local courts — by filing a private criminal complaint and hoping a county district attorney will pursue it, a method Melewsky said is unlikely to get results, or filing a civil action against a municipality, which also has limited enforcement possibilities.

Regarding the latter, Melewsky made a good point: “Not many folks have a few thousand dollars lying around to pursue a Sunshine Act violation.”

So what exactly is the point of a law — regardless of its good intentions — if there are little means of enforcing it?

Last year, state Rep. Aaron Bernstine, R-10th, sponsored a bill to amend the Sunshine Act to require government agencies — such as school boards or commissioners — to post agendas 24 hours prior to voting meetings. It has so far been passed by the House.

That’s a good start. But questions of enforcement remain. The Legislature needs to consider fine tuning the Sunshine Act so that it fulfills its intended purpose.

In the meantime, townships must take it upon themselves to enforce the rules. Recent studies have found that Americans’ trust in government is eroding. Providing more transparency to constituents should be a goal for all county entities that serve the public.

— NCD