HARRISBURG — A state Senate committee unanimously approved a bill Monday to overhaul the law that sets limits on public access to government records after committee members rejected efforts to broaden the bill's reach.

The bill endorsed by the Senate State Government Committee would make all executive branch records available to the public at the state and local levels, unless they fall into one of 28 exceptions. The current Right-to-Know Law defines specific types of records that are public and presumes all others can remain secret. The bill also would force government agencies to justify denials when a dispute goes in front of a judge, instead of forcing the person seeking the record to show why it should be public.

As currently written, the bill would not similarly expand access to records of the Legislature, and the committee members tabled an effort by the chairman, Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, to do so.

The Senate bill could come up for debate in the full chamber the week of Nov. 19. The House is scheduled to debate its own bill as early as today.

Pennsylvania is generally thought to have one of the nation's weakest laws regarding public access.

Pileggi and his staff have worked on the bill, sorting through the competing desires of a dozen or more groups, such as newspaper publishers, open-government advocates, local governments and law enforcement agencies.