"You follow the money and you'll come to the truth,'' state Rep. Tim Mahoney says.

Mr. Mahoney, a freshman Democrat from South Union in Fayette County, just made it a lot easier for Pennsylvanians to see where all our green stuff goes.

Shine a light: State Rep. Tim Mahoney, Democrat from Fayette County

Click photo for larger version

He was instrumental in getting our notoriously secretive governmental culture to open up. Pennsylvania is now legally required to turn 180 degrees from its historic stance on public records. No longer can the bureaucratic motto amount to "we ain't sharing our secrets with mere citizens.'' Soon, the thousands of governments within our borders must adhere a new one:

"When in doubt, give it out.''

That's the plan anyway. We'll wait to see how it works in practice. With Pennsylvania being on the remedial track in open government, it's going to take until January before something called the Office of Open Records is up and running.

I find myself thinking of the commonwealth as a person trying to lick old habits, heading to the counselor's office, stretching out on the couch and hearing the shrink say, "You have to learn to share.''

Mr. Mahoney said he himself has experienced trouble getting budget information from a township whose solicitor wasn't too eager to share information.

"Now it's on the state to prove it's not open,'' he said, "instead of the public having to prove it is open. There's no doubt this has to be in play if you ever want to put trust back in state government."

Both houses of the Legislature unanimously passed the open-records bill after a lot of tinkering. Thirty categories of information can't be released, but those protections seem reasonable. If releasing the info "would likely result in physical harm or risk the personal security of an individual,'' it will stay secret. Names of 911 callers are exempted along with information about minors.

But now the governmental agency must prove it meets those exemptions, and it will have to respond within five days. There will be an appeals process and those who unlawfully withhold information can be fined.

This is not your father's Pennsylvania. State contracts will be required to be posted online. All a muckraker will need is a personal computer or a library card to find out where big state money is spent and who's collecting it. Any citizen can be a roving sleuth.

Mr. Mahoney, 50, a former jury commissioner who has been a building contractor and a restaurateur, came to Harrisburg after winning an open primary and the general election comfortably in 2006. Before he even reached the statehouse, he announced he would introduce the bill to create this new state agency.

If your township, borough, county or state isn't forthcoming with records you want to see, you will be able to call this new agency within the state Department of Community and Economic Development by January. There will be uniform standards that citizens and government solicitors can know.

A letter from this agency "will save a lot of Ma and Pa Kettles a lot of money from going to court to see what's open or not open,'' Mr. Mahoney said.

He credited House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese of Greene County for adapting to the new wave of openness and getting behind this measure. Every lawmaker in Harrisburg has been tarnished by the image that they're "all show and blow,'' and they know that Pennsylvanians have had it with the old ways.

So how did Mr. Mahoney celebrate when Gov. Ed Rendell signed the bill?

"I went out and had a nice cold beer,'' he said. "I knew things were slow. I didn't realize how slow. Thirteen months. They said this moved fast. Thirteen months of pushing and shoving on something that really is right.''