HARRISBURG -- When state lawmakers return to work today, they'll be faced with moving forward on three major pieces of legislation: a meaningful open records law, a bill to ban smoking in public places and a tax-shifting measure that would lower property taxes for homeowners.

But with only 12 General Assembly session days left before Dec. 12, the last day of work before members head home for the holidays, major hurdles remain that could block progress.

Batting leadoff will be efforts to enact an improved Right To Know Act, a bill aimed at giving residents easier access to state and local government records.

Pennsylvania's current open records law has been ranked 48th worst of the 50 states, but the current amended version of House Bill 443 would make Pennsylvania's law worse, not better, said Teri Henning, legal counsel to the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

The bill originally proposed by Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fayette, was an improvement over current law, supporters said. It would have reversed a "presumption" that most records should remain private. His bill would have made most records public, with exceptions for personal medical records, Social Security numbers, homeland security data and about 20 other categories. It also would have created a new state agency to help people get access to state and local records.

But his bill was radically amended by a House committee, and as it stands now "creates a blanket exemption for e-mail sent to legislators, state and local agencies, executive branch agencies and independent agencies such as the attorney general auditor general," Ms. Henning said. It also permits an agency to deny access to records if it deems a person's request to be "burdensome" or "harassing."

"These are incredibly sweeping exemptions" to public disclosure, she said. Citizens groups are urging legislators to remove the broad e-mail exemption before a vote is taken on House Bill 443, which could be up for action by tomorrow.

Ms. Henning said that under the current law, as flawed as it is, "the issue of whether a document is a public record depends solely on the content, and not the form. This amended bill is worse than the current law."

Gov. Ed Rendell, who would have to sign any open records bill the Legislature passes, said he remains optimistic a good bill will come forward.

Some lawmakers maintain they have to keep constituents' e-mails and letters private because they often contain complaints about personal issues, medical problems or fears of crime. Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, recently said he gets e-mails and letters from residents about drug deals and shootings in Philadelphia neighborhoods and to make these public would endanger his informants.

Ms. Henning noted there are about two dozen "exceptions" in the Mahoney bill to guard against the release of such sensitive information.

The Right To Know Law situation is further complicated because the Senate has a different version of a bill, sponsored by Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester. Ms. Henning said that while the Pileggi bill isn't perfect, it's much better than current law and better than the restrictive House bill. The Pileggi bill was approved by one Senate committee but probably won't face floor action until later in the month.

Equally controversial will be legislative efforts to restrict the number of public places and work places where people will be allowed to smoke.

The House passed a version in July, sponsored by Rep. Michael Gerber, D-Montgomery, that was fairly restrictive on smokers. For example, smoking would be banned at the state's new casinos and in bars. This has upset casino operators, since many of their patrons smoke.

The Gerber bill would permit smoking in private homes, as long as they weren't used for day care, at tobacco shops and cigar expositions and in fraternal clubs at least 10 years old.

A looser Senate version allows smoking on 25 percent of a casino floor, in private clubs and homes, in small, neighborhood bars, in upscale taverns that stock cigars in humidors, and several other places. A serious battle is expected.

A smoking ban for all bars, restaurants and public buildings got a boost last week from a Quinnipiac University poll. The survey of 1,019 Pennsylvania voters taken in early November showed support for such a ban by a 62 percent to 32 percent margin. Women were especially in favor, by 67 percent to 28 percent, with men not quite as much, 57 percent to 38 percent.

The third item coming up for discussion -- property tax reform -- may be the stickiest.

Rep. David Levdansky, D-Forward, just got a committee to approve his bill to raise the personal income tax rate to 3.29 percent (from the current 3.07 percent) and to raise the state sales tax by 0.5 percent. He thinks that will generate $1.5 billion, which would be combined with an estimated $1 billion from a slots tax to produce $2.5 billion for lowering property taxes.

House Democratic leader Bill DeWeese of Waynesburg has a more modest tax-shifting bill that just raises the sales tax. Others have proposals to raise as much as $8 billion, which they say will permit homeowners to stop paying school property taxes altogether.

But as the April 22 primary approaches, it will be more and more difficult to get an incumbent lawmaker to vote for higher taxes, even if he or she does see it as a way to lower property taxes.