The following program materials are provided below by the
Cowitch/Fisher group:
- A Summary of the Major Changes to the RTKL in 2009, and
- Pennsylvania's Right To Know Law
Summary of Major Changes to
the RTKL in 2008
65 P.S. § 67.101et seq.
1) More agencies and
branches included within its coverage.
Records from all branches of local and state government
including the judiciary are now accessible under the RTKL although
there is limited access to legislative and judicial records.
The prior law was limited to the executive branch.
2) The definition of "record" was
added.
Record: Information, regardless of physical form or
characteristics, that documents a transaction or activity of an
agency and that is created, received or retained pursuant to law or
in connection with a transaction, business or activity of the
agency. The term includes a document, paper, letter, map, book,
tape, photograph, film or sound recording, information stored or
maintained electronically and a data-processed or image-processed
document. 65 P.S. § 67.102.
3) The definition of "public
record" was changed and broadened.
Prior definition: any account, voucher or contract
dealing with the receipt or disbursement of funds by an agency or
its acquisition, use or disposal of services or of supplies,
materials, equipment or other property and any minute, order or
decision by an agency fixing the personal or property rights,
privileges, immunities, duties or obligations of any person or
group of persons . . . . 65 P.S. § 66.1(2)
2008 definition: A record, including a financial
record, of a Commonwealth or local agency that: (1) is not
exempt under section 708; (2) is not exempt from being disclosed
under any other Federal or State law or regulation or judicial
order or decree; or (3) is not protected by a privilege. 65
P.S. § 67.102.
4) Added definitions for
legislative and financial records.
Legislative Records: Any of the following relating
to a legislative agency or a standing committee, subcommittee or
conference committee of a legislative agency:
(1) A financial
record.
(2) A bill or
resolution that has been introduced and amendments offered thereto
in committee or in legislative session, including resolutions to
adopt or amend the rules of a chamber.
(3) Fiscal
notes.
(4) A
cosponsorship memorandum.
(5) The journal
of a chamber.
(6) The minutes
of, record of attendance of members at a public hearing or a public
committee meeting and all recorded votes taken in a public
committee meeting.
(7) The
transcript of a public hearing when available.
(8) Executive
nomination calendars.
(9) The rules of
a chamber.
(10) A record of all recorded votes
taken in a legislative session.
(11) Any administrative staff manuals or
written policies.
(12) An audit report prepared pursuant
to the act of June 30, 1970 (P.L. 442, No. 151) entitled, "An act
implementing the provisions of Article VIII, section 10 of the
Constitution of Pennsylvania, by designating the Commonwealth
officers who shall be charged with the function of auditing the
financial transactions after the occurrence thereof of the
Legislative and Judicial branches of the government of the
Commonwealth, establishing a Legislative Audit Advisory Commission,
and imposing certain powers and duties on such commission."
(13) Final or annual reports required by
law to be submitted to the General Assembly.
(14) Legislative Budget and Finance
Committee reports.
(15) Daily legislative session calendars
and marked calendars.
(16) A record communicating to an agency
the official appointment of a legislative appointee.
(17) A record communicating to the
appointing authority the resignation of a legislative
appointee.
(18) Proposed regulations, final-form
regulations and final-omitted regulations submitted to a
legislative agency.
(19) The results of public opinion
surveys, polls, focus groups, marketing research or similar efforts
designed to measure public opinion funded by a legislative
agency.
Financial Record: Any of the following:
(1) Any account, voucher or contract dealing
with:
i.
the receipt or disbursement of funds by an agency; or
ii.
an agency's acquisition, use or disposal of services, supplies,
materials, equipment or property.
(2) The salary or other payments or expenses paid to
an officer or employee of an agency, including the name and title
of the officer or employee.
(3) A financial audit report. The term does not
include work papers underlying an audit.
5) Shifted burden of proof to
government agencies.
Prior: Burden was on the person seeking to
compel disclosure to establish that the document: (1) was generated
by an agency subject to the RTKL; (2) was a minute, order or
decision of an agency or an essential component thereof; (3) fixes
personal or property rights or duties of any person or group; and
(4) is not protected by statute, order or decree of law.
2008: There is a presumption that a record in
the possession of an agency is a public record unless otherwise
protected by law or privilege.
6) The 2008 amendments added
penalties against agencies for unreasonable refusals to release
records. 65 P.S. §§ 1303, 1305
Denial of access = not more than $1,500 if an
agency denied access to a public record in bad faith
Failure to comply with court order = not more than
$500 per day until the records are provided
Court costs and attorney fees.
7) 2008 amendments created a
defined procedure for a member of the public to request records. 65
P.S. §§ 901, 902, 903.
a) Requester submits a verbal or
written request for records to an agency's open records officer
(AORO). Only denials of written requests are appealable.
b) Agency has 5
business days to respond. May ask for a 30-day
extension for certain reasons: redaction, retrieval of records from
remote location, bona fide staffing limitations, legal review is
necessary, requester has not complied with agency's policies
regarding access to records, requester refuses to pay applicable
fees, extent or nature of records precludes a response within 5
days.
c) Agency response must be in
writing and, if denied, include detailed reasons for denial, the
legal authority for the denial and the procedure for taking the
appeal.
d) If no response is provided within the
5 (or 30) days, the request is deemed denied and the requester may
appeal to the OOR.
8) OOR was created. 65 P.S.
§ 67.1310.
Duties of the OOR:
a) Provide information relating to
the implementation and enforcement of the RTKL.
b) Issue advisory opinions to
agencies and requesters.
c) Provide annual training to
local and state agencies, public officials and public employees
d) Assign appeals officers to review
appeals.
e) Train appeals officers.
f) Hold appeal hearings if
necessary.
g) Establish an informal mediation
program.
h) Establish a website.
i) Conduct a biannual
review of fees under the RTKL.
j) Annually report its
activities and findings to the Governor and General Assembly.
9) Defined 30 exemptions from
disclosure. 65 P.S. § 67.708(b).
Examples:
Records which the disclosure of would be reasonably likely to
result in substantial and demonstrable risk of physical harm to or
the personal security of an individual. 65 P.S. §
67.708(b)(1)(ii).
Personal identification information including social security
number; driver's license number; personal financial information;
home, cell or personal telephone numbers; personal email addresses;
employee number; other confidential personal identification number;
spouse's name; marital status; beneficiary or dependent
information; home addresses of law enforcement officer or
judge. 65 P.S. § 67.708(b)(6)(i).
Specific records related to an agency employee. 65 P.S. §
67.708(b)(7).
A record that reflects the predecisional deliberations of an
agency, its members, employees or officials or predecisional
deliberations between agency members, employees or officials and
members of another agency including those records related to budget
recommendations, legislative proposals, contemplated or proposed
policy or any research, memos or other documents used in the
predecisional deliberation. 65 P.S. §
67.708(b)(10)(i)(A).
Notes or working papers prepared by or for a public agency or
public employee used solely for that official's or employee's own
personal use. 65 P.S. § 67.708(b)(12).
Records related to criminal and noncriminal investigations. 65
P.S. §§ 67.708(b)(16), (17).
10)
Prior: had to be a citizen of Pennsylvania in order to
make a request or through a PA attorney
2008: must be a legal resident of the United
States
11) 2008 Amendments
now have 30 statutory exemptions. 65 P.S. § 67.708(b).
Cases and Statutes Referenced
in Presentation
Bowling v. Office of Open Records, 2013 Pa. LEXIS 1800 (Pa.
August 30, 2013)
The Commonwealth Court correctly held that its standard of
review isde novoand its scope of review is broad and plenary when
it hears appeals from determinations made by appeals officers under
the RTKL.
Pa. Gaming Control Bd. v. Office of Open Records, 48 A.3d 503
(Pa. Cmwlth. 2012),appeal granted, ___ A.3d ___, 2013 Pa. LEXIS
2033 (Pa. Sept. 11, 2013).
A request for records is valid even if it does not state that it
is a RTKL request and is not presented on the agency's or OOR's
standardized RTKL form.
Levy v. Senate of Pa., 65 A.3d 361 (Pa. 2013)
The Commonwealth Court erred in holding that an agency waives
any reasons for non-disclosure not raised in its initial Section
903 written response, and therefore the per se waiver rule set
forth inSignature Info. Solutions, LLC v. Aston Twp.,995 A.2d 510,
512 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2010) and its progeny is unnecessarily
restrictive.
Commonwealth v. Donahue, 59 A.3d 1165 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2013).
Section 901 of the RTKL requires an agency to respond to a
written RTKL request within 5 days of the request's receipt by
theagency's open records officer.
Office of the Lt. Governor v Mohn, 67 A.3d 123 (Pa. Cmwlth
2012).
There is no constitutional right to privacy in one's home
address under the Pennsylvania Constitution that would preclude the
release of the home addresses.
Section 708(b)(6)(i)(C) of the RTKL- home addresses of judges
and law enforcement officers are exempt from disclosure.
Section 708(b)(30) of the RTKL- home addresses of children 17
years of age or younger are exempt from disclosure.
.................................................................................................................
Pennsylvania's New Right to Know
Law
Act 3 of 2008, as signed by Gov.
Edward G. Rendell on February 14, 2008
Effective January 1, 2009
AN ACT
Providing for access to public
information, for a designated open
-
records officer in each
Commonwealth
agency, local agency, judicial agency
and legislative agency, for procedure, for appeal of agency
determination, for judicial review and
for the Office of Open Records; imposing penalties; providing
for
reporting by State
-
related institutions; requiring
the posting of certain State contract information on the
Internet; and making related
repeals.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1. Preliminary Provisions
Section 101. Short title.
Section 102. Definitions.
Chapter 3. Requirements and
Prohibitions
Section 301. Commonwealth
agencies.
Section 302. Local agencies.
Section 303. Legislative agencies.
Section 304. Judicial agencies.
Section 305. Presumption.
Section 306. Nature of document.
Chapter 5. Access
Section 501. Scope of chapter.
Section 502. Open
-
records officer.
Section 503. Appeals officer.
Section 504. Regulations and
policies.
Section 505. Uniform form.
Section 506. Requests.
Section 507. Retention of records.
Chapter 7. Procedure
Section 701. Access.
Section 702. Requests.
Section 703. Written requests.
Section 704. Electronic access.
Section 705. Creation of record.
Section 706. Redaction.
Section 707. Production of certain
records.
Section 708. Exceptions for public
records.
Pennsylvania's New
2
Right-To-Know Law
Chapter 9. Agency Response
Section 901. General rule.
Section 902. Extension of time.
Section 903. Denial.
Section 904. Certified copies.
Section 905. Record discard.
Chapter 11. Appeal of Agency
Determination
Section 1101. Filing of appeal.
Section 1102. Appeals officers.
Chapter 13. Judicial Review
Section 1301. Commonwealth agencies,
legislative agencies judicial agencies.
Section 1302. Local agencies.
Section 1303. Notice and records.
Section 1304. Court costs and attorney
fees.
Section 1305. Penalties.
Section 1306. Immunity.
Section 1307. Fee limitations.
Section 1308. Prohibition.
Section 1309. Practice and
procedure.
Section 1310. Office of Open
Records.
Chapter 15. State
-
Related Institutions
Section 1501. Definition.
Section 1502. Reporting.
Section 1503. Contents of report.
Section 1504. Copies and posting.
Chapter 17. State Contract
Information
Section 1701. Submission and retention
of contracts.
Section 1702. Public availability of
contracts.
Chapter 31. Miscellaneous
Provisions
Section 3101. Applicability.
Section 3101.1. Relation to other law
or judicial actions.
Section 3101.2. Severability.
Section 3102. Repeals.
Section 3103. References.
Section 3104. Effective date.
Pennsylvania's New Right-To-Know
Law
3
The General Assembly of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:
CHAPTER 1. PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
Section 101. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be
cited as the Right
-to-
Know Law.
Section 102. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when
used in this act shall have the meanings given to them in this
section
unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise:
"
Administrative
proceeding."
A proceeding by an agency the
outcome of which is required to be based on
a record or documentation prescribed
by law or in which a statute or regulation is particularized in
application to individuals. The term
includes an appeal.
"
Agency."
A Commonwealth agency, a local
agency, a judicial agency or a legislative agency.
"
Aggregated
data."
A tabulation of data which
relate to broad classes, groups or categories so that it is
not
possible to distinguish the properties
of individuals within those classes, groups or categories.
"
Appeals
officer."
As follows:
(
1)
For a Commonwealth agency or a local agency, the
appeals officer designated under section
503(a
)
.
(
2)
For a judicial agency, the individual designated under
section
503(b
)
.
(
3)
For a legislative agency, the individual designated
under section
503(c
)
.
(
4)
For the Attorney General, State
Treasurer, Auditor General and local agencies in possession of
criminal
investigative records, the individual
designated under section 503
(d)
.
"
Commonwealth
agency."
Any of the following:
(
1)
Any office, department,
authority, board, multistate agency or commission of the executive
branch; an
independent agency; and a State
-
affiliated entity. The term
includes:
(
i)
The Governor'
s Office.
(
ii)
The Office of Attorney General,
the Department of the Auditor General and the Treasury
Department.
(
iii)
An organization established by
the Constitution of Pennsylvania, a statute or an executive
order
which performs or is intended to
perform an essential governmental function.
(
2)
The term does not include a
judicial or legislative agency.
"
Confidential proprietary
information."
Commercial or financial
information received by an agency:
(
1)
which is privileged or
confidential; and
(
2)
the disclosure of which would
cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the person
that
submitted the information.
"
Financial
record."
Any of the following:
(
1)
Any account, voucher or contract
dealing with:
(
i)
the receipt or disbursement of
funds by an agency; or
(
ii)
an agency'
s acquisition, use or disposal
of services, supplies, materials, equipment or property.
Pennsylvania's New
4
Right-To-Know Law
(
2)
The salary or other payments or
expenses paid to an officer or employee of an agency, including
the
name and title of the officer or
employee.
(
3)
A financial audit report. The
term does not include work papers underlying an audit.
"
Homeland
security."
Governmental actions designed to
prevent, detect, respond to and recover from acts
of terrorism, major disasters and
other emergencies, whether natural or manmade. The term
includes
activities relating to the
following:
(
1)
emergency preparedness and
response, including preparedness and response activities by
volunteer
medical, police, emergency management,
hazardous materials and fire personnel;
(
2)
intelligence
activities;
(
3)
critical infrastructure
protection;
(
4)
border security;
(
5)
ground, aviation and maritime
transportation security;
(
6)
biodefense;
(
7)
detection of nuclear and radiological materials;
and
(8)
research on
next-
generation securities
technologies.
"
Independent
agency."
Any board, commission or other
agency or officer of the Commonwealth, that is
not subject to the policy supervision
and control of the Governor. The term does not include a
legislative
or judicial agency.
"
Judicial
agency."
A court of the Commonwealth or
any other entity or office of the unified judicial
system.
"
Legislative
agency."
Any of the following:
(
1)
The Senate.
(
2)
The House of
Representatives.
(
3)
The Capitol Preservation
Committee.
(
4)
The Center for Rural
Pennsylvania.
(
5)
The Joint Legislative Air and
Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee.
(
6)
The Joint State Government
Commission.
(
7)
The Legislative Budget and
Finance Committee.
(
8)
The Legislative Data Processing
Committee.
(
9)
The Independent Regulatory
Review Commission.
(
10)
The Legislative Reference
Bureau.
(
11)
The Local Government
Commission.
(
12)
The Pennsylvania Commission on
Sentencing.
(
13)
The Legislative Reapportionment
Commission.
(
14)
The Legislative Office of
Research Liaison.
(
15)
The Legislative Audit Advisory
Commission.
Pennsylvania's New Right-To-Know
Law
5
"
Legislative
record."
Any of the following relating to
a legislative agency or a standing committee,
subcommittee or conference committee
of a legislative agency:
(
1)
A financial record.
(
2)
A bill or resolution that has
been introduced and amendments offered thereto in committee or
in
legislative session, including
resolutions to adopt or amend the rules of a chamber.
(
3)
Fiscal notes.
(
4)
A cosponsorship
memorandum.
(
5)
The journal of a
chamber.
(
6)
The minutes of, record of
attendance of members at a public hearing or a public committee
meeting
and all recorded votes taken in a
public committee meeting.
(
7)
The transcript of a public
hearing when available.
(
8)
Executive nomination
calendars.
(
9)
The rules of a
chamber.
(
10)
A record of all recorded votes
taken in a legislative session.
(
11)
Any administrative staff manuals
or written policies.
(
12)
An audit report prepared pursuant to the act of June
30, 1970
(P.L.442,
No.151)
entitled, "
An act
implementing the provisions of Article
VIII, section 10 of the Constitution of Pennsylvania, by
designating the Commonwealth officers
who shall be charged with the function of auditing the
financial transactions after the
occurrence thereof of the Legislative and Judicial branches of
the
government of the Commonwealth,
establishing a Legislative Audit Advisory Commission, and
imposing certain powers and duties on
such commission.
"
(
13)
Final or annual reports required
by law to be submitted to the General Assembly.
(
14)
Legislative Budget and Finance
Committee reports.
(
15)
Daily Legislative Session
Calendars and marked calendars.
(
16)
A record communicating to an
agency the official appointment of a legislative
appointee.
(
17)
A record communicating to the
appointing authority the resignation of a legislative
appointee.
(
18)
Proposed regulations,
final-form
regulations and final-
omitted regulations submitted to
a legislative
agency.
(
19)
The results of public opinion
surveys, polls, focus groups, marketing research or similar
efforts
designed to measure public opinion
funded by a legislative agency.
"
Local agency."
Any of the following:
(
1)
Any political subdivision,
intermediate unit, charter school, cyber charter school or public
trade or
vocational school.
(
2)
Any local, intergovernmental,
regional or municipal agency, authority, council, board, commission
or
similar governmental entity.
"
Office of Open
Records."
The Office of Open Records
established in section 1310.
"
Personal financial
information."
An individual'
s personal credit, charge or
debit card information; bank
account information; bank, credit or
financial statements; account or PIN numbers and other
information relating to an
individual
'
s personal finances.
Pennsylvania's New
6
Right-To-Know Law
"
Privilege."
The
attorney-work
product doctrine, the
attorney-client
privilege, the doctor-
patient privilege,
the speech and debate privilege or
other privilege recognized by a court interpreting the laws of
this
Commonwealth.
"
Public record."
A record, including a financial
record, of a Commonwealth or local agency that:
(
1)
is not exempt under section
708;
(
2)
is not exempt from being
disclosed under any other Federal or State law or regulation or
judicial order
or decree; or
(
3)
is not protected by a
privilege.
"
Record."
Information, regardless of
physical form or characteristics, that documents a transaction
or
activity of an agency and that is
created, received or retained pursuant to law or in connection with
a
transaction, business or activity of
the agency. The term includes a document, paper, letter, map,
book,
tape, photograph, film or sound
recording, information stored or maintained electronically and a
dataprocessed
or image
-
processed document.
"
Requester."
A person that is a legal
resident of the United States and requests a record pursuant to
this act.
The term includes an agency.
"
Response."
Access to a record or an
agency'
s written notice to a requester
granting, denying or partially
granting and partially denying access
to a record.
"
Social
services."
Cash assistance and other
welfare benefits, medical, mental and other health care
services,
drug and alcohol treatment, adoption
services, vocational services and training, occupational
training,
education services, counseling
services, workers
'
compensation services and
unemployment
compensation services, foster care
services, services for the elderly, services for individuals
with
disabilities and services for victims
of crimes and domestic violence.
"
State-
affiliated entity."
A Commonwealth authority or
Commonwealth entity. The term includes the
Pennsylvania Higher Education
Assistance Agency and any entity established thereby, the
Pennsylvania
Gaming Control Board, the Pennsylvania
Game Commission, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
Commission, the Pennsylvania Housing
Finance Agency, the Pennsylvania Municipal Retirement Board,
the State System of Higher Education,
a community college, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, the
Pennsylvania Public Utility
Commission, the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority,
the State
Public School Building Authority, the
Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and the
Pennsylvania Educational Facilities
Authority. The term does not include a State
-
related institution.
"
State-
related institution."
Includes:
(
1)
Temple University.
(
2)
The University of
Pittsburgh.
(
3)
The Pennsylvania State
University.
(
4)
Lincoln University.
"
Terrorist act."
A violent or
life-
threatening act that violates
the criminal laws of the United States or any
state and appears to be intended
to:
(
1)
intimidate or coerce a civilian
population;
(
2)
influence the policy of a
government; or
(
3)
affect the conduct of a
government by mass destruction, assassination or
kidnapping.
"
Trade secret."
Information, including a
formula, drawing, pattern, compilation, including a customer
list,
program, device, method, technique or
process that:
(
1)
derives independent economic
value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to and
not
being readily ascertainable by proper
means by other persons who can obtain economic value from its
disclosure or use; and
Pennsylvania's New Right-To-Know
Law
7
(
2)
is the subject of efforts that
are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its
secrecy.
The term includes data processing
software obtained by an agency under a licensing agreement
prohibiting
disclosure.
CHAPTER 3. REQUIREMENTS AND
PROHIBITIONS
Section 301. Commonwealth
agencies.
(
a)
Requirement. -
A Commonwealth agency shall
provide public records in accordance with this act.
(
b)
Prohibition. -
A Commonwealth agency may not
deny a requester access to a public record due to the
intended use of the public record by
the requester unless otherwise provided by law.
Section 302. Local agencies.
(
a)
Requirement. -
A local agency shall provide
public records in accordance with this act.
(
b)
Prohibition. -
A local agency may not deny a
requester access to a public record due to the intended
use
of the public record by the requester
unless otherwise provided by law.
Section 303. Legislative agencies.
(
a)
Requirement. -
A legislative agency shall
provide legislative records in accordance with this act.
(
b)
Prohibition. -
A legislative agency may not
deny a requester access to a legislative record due to
the
intended use of the legislative record
by the requester.
Section 304. Judicial agencies.
(
a)
Requirement. -
A judicial agency shall provide
financial records in accordance with this act or any
rule
or order of court providing equal or
greater access to the records.
(
b)
Prohibition. -
A judicial agency may not deny a
requester access to a financial record due to the
intended use of the financial record
by the requester.
Section 305. Presumption.
(
a)
General rule. -
A record in the possession of a
Commonwealth agency or local agency shall be presumed
to be a public record. The presumption
shall not apply if:
(
1)
the record is exempt under
section 708;
(
2)
the record is protected by a
privilege; or
(
3)
the record is exempt from
disclosure under any other Federal or State law or regulation or
judicial order
or decree.
(
b)
Legislative records and financial
records. -
A legislative record in the
possession of a legislative
agency and a financial record in the
possession of a judicial agency shall be presumed to be available
in
accordance with this act. The
presumption shall not apply if:
(
1)
the record is exempt under
section 708;
(
2)
the record is protected by a
privilege; or
(
3)
the record is exempt from
disclosure under any other Federal or State law, regulation or
judicial order
or decree.
Section 306. Nature of document.
Nothing in this act shall supersede or
modify the public or nonpublic nature of a record or document
established in Federal or State law,
regulation or judicial order or decree.
Pennsylvania's New
8
Right-To-Know Law
CHAPTER 5. ACCESS
Section 501. Scope of chapter.
This chapter applies to all
agencies.
Section 502. Open-records officer.
(
a)
Establishment.
-
(
1)
An agency shall designate an official or employee to
act as the open-
records officer.
(
2)
For a legislative agency other than the Senate or the
House of Representatives, the
open-
records officer
designated by the Legislative
Reference Bureau shall serve as the open
-
records officer.
Notwithstanding paragraph
(1)
, a political party caucus of a
legislative agency may appoint an openrecords
officer under this section.
(
b)
Functions.
-
(
1)
The open-
records officer shall receive
requests submitted to the agency under this act, direct
requests
to other appropriate persons within
the agency or to appropriate persons in another agency, track
the
agency
'
s progress in responding to
requests and issue interim and final responses under this
act.
(
2)
Upon receiving a request for a public record,
legislative record or financial record, the
open-
records
officer shall do all of the
following:
(
i)
Note the date of receipt on the
written request.
(
ii)
Compute the day on which the
five-
day period under section 901
will expire and make a notation
of that date on the written
request.
(
iii)
Maintain an electronic or paper
copy of a written request, including all documents submitted
with
the request until the request has been
fulfilled. If the request is denied, the written request shall
be maintained for 30 days or, if an
appeal is filed, until a final determination is issued under
section 1101
(b)
or the appeal is deemed
denied.
(
iv)
Create a file for the retention
of the original request, a copy of the response, a record of
written
communications with the requester and
a copy of other communications. This subparagraph shall
only apply to Commonwealth
agencies.
Section 503. Appeals officer.
(
a)
Commonwealth agencies and local agencies.
- Except as provided in
subsection
(d)
, the Office of
Open Records established under section
1310 shall designate an appeals officer under section 1101
(a)(
2)
for
all:
(
1)
Commonwealth agencies;
and
(
2)
local agencies.
(
b)
Judicial agencies.
-
A judicial agency shall
designate an appeals officer to hear appeals under Chapter
11.
(
c)
Legislative agencies.
-
(
1)
Except as set forth in paragraph
(2)
, the Legislative Reference
Bureau shall designate an appeals officer
to hear appeals under Chapter 11 for
all legislative agencies.
(
2)
Each of the following shall
designate an appeals officer to hear appeals under Chapter
11:
(
i)
The Senate.
(
ii)
The House of
Representatives.
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(
d)
Law enforcement records and Statewide
officials.
-
(
1)
The Attorney General, State
Treasurer and Auditor General shall each designate an appeals
officer to
hear appeals under Chapter 11.
(
2)
The district attorney of a
county shall designate one or more appeals officers to hear appeals
under
Chapter 11 relating to access to
criminal investigative records in possession of a local agency of
that
county. The appeals officer designated
by the district attorney shall determine if the record
requested
is a criminal investigative
record.
Section 504. Regulations and
policies.
(
a)
Authority. -
An agency may promulgate
regulations and policies necessary for the agency to
implement
this act. The Office of Open Records
may promulgate regulations relating to appeals involving a
Commonwealth agency or local
agency.
(
b)
Posting. -
The following information shall
be posted at each agency and, if the agency maintains an
Internet website, on the agency
'
s Internet website:
(
1)
Contact information for the
open-
records officer.
(
2)
Contact information for the
Office of Open Records or other applicable appeals
officer.
(
3)
A form which may be used to file
a request.
(
4)
Regulations, policies and
procedures of the agency relating to this act.
Section 505. Uniform form.
(
a)
Commonwealth and local agencies.
-
The Office of Open Records shall
develop a uniform form
which shall be accepted by all
Commonwealth and local agencies in addition to any form used by
the
agency to file a request under this
act. The uniform form shall be published in the Pennsylvania
Bulletin
and on the Office of Open Record
'
s Internet website.
(
b)
Judicial agencies.
-
A judicial agency or the
Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts may develop
a form to request financial records or
may accept a form developed by the Office of Open Records.
(
c)
Legislative agencies.
-
A legislative agency may develop
a form to request legislative records or may
accept the form developed by the
Office of Open Records.
Section 506. Requests.
(
a)
Disruptive requests.
-
(
1)
An agency may deny a requester
access to a record if the requester has made repeated requests for
that
same record and the repeated requests
have placed an unreasonable burden on the agency.
(
2)
A denial under this subsection
shall not restrict the ability to request a different
record.
(
b)
Disaster or potential damage.
-
(
1)
An agency may deny a requester
access:
(
i)
when timely access is not
possible due to fire, flood or other disaster; or
(
ii)
to historical, ancient or rare
documents, records, archives and manuscripts when access may, in
the
professional judgment of the curator
or custodian of records, cause physical damage or irreparable
harm to the record.
(
2)
To the extent possible, the
contents of a record under this subsection shall be made accessible
to a
requester even when the record is
physically unavailable.
(
c)
Agency discretion.
-
An agency may exercise its
discretion to make any otherwise exempt record
accessible for inspection and copying
under this chapter, if all of the following apply:
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(
1)
Disclosure of the record is not
prohibited under any of the following:
(
i)
Federal or State law or
regulation.
(
ii)
Judicial order or
decree.
(
2)
The record is not protected by a
privilege.
(
3)
The agency head determines that
the public interest favoring access outweighs any individual,
agency or
public interest that may favor
restriction of access.
(
d)
Agency possession.
-
(
1)
A public record that is not in
the possession of an agency but is in the possession of a party
with whom
the agency has contracted to perform a
governmental function on behalf of the agency, and which
directly relates to the governmental
function and is not exempt under this act, shall be considered
a
public record of the agency for
purposes of this act.
(
2)
Nothing in this act shall be
construed to require access to any other record of the party in
possession of
the public record.
(
3)
A request for a public record in
possession of a party other than the agency shall be submitted to
the
open records officer of the agency.
Upon a determination that the record is subject to access under
this act, the open records officer
shall assess the duplication fee established under section 1307
(b)
and
upon collection shall remit the fee to
the party in possession of the record if the party duplicated
the
record.
Section 507. Retention of records.
Nothing in this act shall be construed
to modify, rescind or supersede any record retention policy or
disposition schedule of an agency
established pursuant to law, regulation, policy or other
directive.
CHAPTER 7 PROCEDURE
Section 701. Access.
(
a)
General rule. -
Unless otherwise provided by
law, a public record, legislative record or financial
record
shall be accessible for inspection and
duplication in accordance with this act. A record being provided to
a
requester shall be provided in the
medium requested if it exists in that medium; otherwise, it shall
be
provided in the medium in which it
exists. Public records, legislative records or financial records
shall be
available for access during the
regular business hours of an agency.
(
b)
Construction. -
Nothing in this act shall be
construed to require access to any computer either of an
agency or individual employee of an
agency.
Section 702. Requests.
Agencies may fulfill verbal, written
or anonymous verbal or written requests for access to records under
this
act. If the requester wishes to pursue
the relief and remedies provided for in this act, the request
for
access to records must be a written
request.
Section 703. Written requests.
A written request for access to
records may be submitted in person, by mail, by e
-
mail, by facsimile or, to
the
extent provided by agency rules, any
other electronic means. A written request must be addressed to
the
open
-
records officer designated
pursuant to section 502. Employees of an agency shall be directed
to
forward requests for records to the
open
-
records officer. A written
request should identify or describe the
records sought with sufficient
specificity to enable the agency to ascertain which records are
being
requested and shall include the name
and address to which the agency should address its response. A
written request need not include any
explanation of the requester
'
s reason for requesting or
intended use
of the records unless otherwise
required by law.
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Section 704. Electronic access.
(
a)
General rule. -
In addition to the requirements
of section 701, an agency may make its records available
through any publicly accessible
electronic means.
(
b)
Response.
-
(
1)
In addition to the requirements
of section 701, an agency may respond to a request by notifying
the
requester that the record is available
through publicly accessible electronic means or that the agency
will provide access to inspect the
record electronically.
(
2)
If the requester is unwilling or
unable to access the record electronically, the requester may,
within 30
days following receipt of the agency
notification, submit a written request to the agency to have
the
record converted to paper. The agency
shall provide access to the record in printed form within five
days of the receipt of the written
request for conversion to paper.
Section 705. Creation of record.
When responding to a request for
access, an agency shall not be required to create a record which
does not
currently exist or to compile,
maintain, format or organize a record in a manner in which the
agency does
not currently compile, maintain,
format or organize the record.
Section 706. Redaction.
If an agency determines that a public
record, legislative record or financial record contains information
which
is subject to access as well as
information which is not subject to access, the agency
'
s response shall
grant
access to the information which is
subject to access and deny access to the information which is
not
subject to access. If the information
which is not subject to access is an integral part of the public
record,
legislative record or financial record
and cannot be separated, the agency shall redact from the record
the
information which is not subject to
access, and the response shall grant access to the information
which is
subject to access. The agency may not
deny access to the record if the information which is not subject
to
access is able to be redacted.
Information which an agency redacts in accordance with this
subsection
shall be deemed a denial under Chapter
9.
Section 707. Production of certain
records.
(
a)
General rule. -
If, in response to a request, an
agency produces a record that is not a public record,
legislative record or financial
record, the agency shall notify any third party that provided the
record to
the agency, the person that is the
subject of the record and the requester.
(
b)
Requests for trade secrets.
-
An agency shall notify a third
party of a request for a record if the third
party provided the record and included
a written statement signed by a representative of the third
party
that the record contains a trade
secret or confidential proprietary information.
Notification shall be provided within
five business days of receipt of the request for the record. The
third
party shall have five business days
from receipt of notification from the agency to provide input on
the
release of the record. The agency
shall deny the request for the record or release the record within
ten
business days of the provision of
notice to the third party and shall notify the third party of the
decision.
(
c)
Transcripts.
-
(
1)
Prior to an adjudication
becoming final, binding and nonappealable, a transcript of an
administrative
proceeding shall be provided to a
requester by the agency stenographer or a court reporter, in
accordance with agency procedure or an
applicable contract.
(
2)
Following an adjudication
becoming final, binding and nonappealable, a transcript of an
administrative
proceeding shall be provided to a
requester in accordance with the duplication rates established
in
section 1307
(b)
.
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Section 708. Exceptions for public
records.
(
a)
Burden of proof.
-
(
1)
The burden of proving that a
record of a Commonwealth agency or local agency is exempt from
public
access shall be on the Commonwealth
agency or local agency receiving a request by a preponderance
of the evidence.
(
2)
The burden of proving that a
legislative record is exempt from public access shall be on the
legislative
agency receiving a request by a
preponderance of the evidence.
(
3)
The burden of proving that a
financial record of a judicial agency is exempt from public access
shall be
on the judicial agency receiving a
request by a preponderance of the evidence.
(
b)
Exceptions. -
Except as provided in subsections
(c)
and
(d)
, the following are exempt from
access by a
requester under this act:
(
1)
A record the disclosure of
which:
(
i)
would result in the loss of
Federal or State funds by an agency or the Commonwealth;
or
(
ii)
would be reasonably likely to
result in a substantial and demonstrable risk of physical harm to
or
the personal security of an
individual.
(
2)
A record maintained by an agency
in connection with the military, homeland security, national
defense,
law enforcement or other public safety
activity that if disclosed would be reasonably likely to
jeopardize or threaten public safety
or preparedness or public protection activity or a record that
is
designated classified by an
appropriate Federal or State military authority.
(
3)
A record, the disclosure of
which creates a reasonable likelihood of endangering the safety or
the
physical security of a building,
public utility, resource, infrastructure, facility or information
storage
system, which may include:
(
i)
documents or data relating to
computer hardware, source files, software and system networks
that
could jeopardize computer security by
exposing a vulnerability in preventing, protecting against,
mitigating or responding to a
terrorist act;
(
ii)
lists of infrastructure,
resources and significant special events, including those defined
by the
Federal Government in the National
Infrastructure Protections, which are deemed critical due to
their nature and which result from
risk analysis; threat assessments; consequences assessments;
antiterrorism protective measures and
plans; counterterrorism measures and plans; and security
and response needs assessments;
and
(
iii)
building plans or infrastructure
records that expose or create vulnerability through disclosure
of
the location, configuration or
security of critical systems, including public utility systems,
structural elements, technology,
communication, electrical, fire suppression, ventilation,
water,
wastewater, sewage and gas
systems.
(
4)
A record regarding computer
hardware, software and networks, including administrative or
technical
records, which, if disclosed, would be
reasonably likely to jeopardize computer security.
(
5)
A record of an
individual'
s medical, psychiatric or
psychological history or disability status, including an
evaluation, consultation,
prescription, diagnosis or treatment; results of tests, including
drug tests;
enrollment in a health care program or
program designed for participation by persons with
disabilities, including vocation
rehabilitation, workers
'
compensation and
unemployment
compensation; or related information
that would disclose individually identifiable health
information.
(
6)
(i)
The following personal
identification information:
(
A)
A record containing all or part of a
person's Social
Security number; driver'
s license number;
personal financial information; home,
cellular or personal telephone numbers; personal email
addresses; employee number or other
confidential personal identification number.
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(
B)
A spouse'
s name; marital status,
beneficiary or dependent information.
(
C)
The home address of a law
enforcement officer or judge.
(
ii)
Nothing in this paragraph shall
preclude the release of the name, position, salary,
actual
compensation or other payments or
expenses, employment contract, employment
-
related
contract or agreement and length of
service of a public official or an agency employee.
(
iii)
An agency may redact the name or
other identifying information relating to an individual
performing an undercover or covert law
enforcement activity from a record.
(
7)
The following records relating
to an agency employee:
(
i)
A letter of reference or
recommendation pertaining to the character or qualifications of
an
identifiable individual, unless it was
prepared in relation to the appointment of an individual to
fill a vacancy in an elected office or
an appointed office requiring Senate confirmation.
(
ii)
A performance rating or
review.
(
iii)
The result of a civil service or
similar test administered by a Commonwealth agency,
legislative
agency or judicial agency. The result
of a civil service or similar test administered by a local
agency
shall not be disclosed if restricted
by a collective bargaining agreement. Only test scores of
individuals who obtained a passing
score on a test administered by a local agency may be
disclosed.
(
iv)
The employment application of an
individual who is not hired by the agency.
(
v)
Workplace support services
program information.
(
vi)
Written criticisms of an
employee.
(
vii)
Grievance material, including
documents related to discrimination or sexual
harassment.
(
viii)
Information regarding
discipline, demotion or discharge contained in a personnel file.
This
subparagraph shall not apply to the
final action of an agency that results in demotion or
discharge.
(
ix)
An academic
transcript.
(
8)
(i)
A record pertaining to strategy
or negotiations relating to labor relations or collective
bargaining
and related arbitration proceedings.
This subparagraph shall not apply to a final or executed
contract
or agreement between the parties in a
collective bargaining procedure.
(
ii)
In the case of the arbitration
of a dispute or grievance under a collective bargaining agreement,
an
exhibit entered into evidence at an
arbitration proceeding, a transcript of the arbitration or the
opinion. This subparagraph shall not
apply to the final award or order of the arbitrator in a
dispute
or grievance procedure.
(
9)
The draft of a bill, resolution,
regulation, statement of policy, management directive, ordinance
or
amendment thereto prepared by or for
an agency.
(
10)
(i)
A record that
reflects:
(
A)
The internal, predecisional
deliberations of an agency, its members, employees or officials
or
predecisional deliberations between
agency members, employees or officials and members,
employees or officials of another
agency, including predecisional deliberations relating to a
budget recommendation, legislative
proposal, legislative amendment, contemplated or
proposed policy or course of action or
any research, memos or other documents used in the
predecisional deliberations.
(
B)
The strategy to be used to
develop or achieve the successful adoption of a budget,
legislative
proposal or regulation.
Pennsylvania's New
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(
ii)
Subparagraph
(i)(
A)
shall apply to agencies subject to 65 Pa.C.S. Ch.
7 (relating to
open meetings)
in
a manner consistent with 65 Pa.C.S.
Ch. 7. A record which is not otherwise exempt from access
under this act and which is presented
to a quorum for deliberation in accordance with 65 Pa.C.S.
Ch. 7 shall be a public record.
(
iii)
This paragraph shall not apply
to a written or Internet application or other document that
has
been submitted to request Commonwealth
funds.
(
iv)
This paragraph shall not apply
to the results of public opinion surveys, polls, focus
groups,
marketing research or similar effort
designed to measure public opinion.
(
11)
A record that constitutes or
reveals a trade secret or confidential proprietary
information.
(
12)
Notes and working papers
prepared by or for a public official or agency employee used solely
for that
official
's or
employee'
s own personal use, including
telephone message slips, routing slips and other
materials that do not have an official
purpose.
(
13)
Records that would disclose the
identity of an individual who lawfully makes a donation to an
agency
unless the donation is intended for or
restricted to providing remuneration or personal tangible
benefit to a named public official or
employee of the agency, including lists of potential donors
compiled by an agency to pursue
donations, donor profile information or personal identifying
information relating to a donor.
(
14)
Unpublished lecture notes,
unpublished manuscripts, unpublished articles, creative works in
progress,
research
-
related material and scholarly
correspondence of a community college or an institution of
the
State System of Higher Education or a
faculty member, staff employee, guest speaker or student
thereof.
(
15)
(i)
Academic transcripts
(
ii)
Examinations, examination
questions, scoring keys or answers to examinations. This
subparagraph
shall include licensing and other
examinations relating to the qualifications of an individual and
to
examinations given in primary and
secondary schools and institutions of higher education.
(
16)
A record of an agency relating
to or resulting in a criminal investigation, including:
(
i)
Complaints of potential criminal
conduct other than a private criminal complaint.
(
ii)
Investigative materials, notes,
correspondence, videos and reports.
(
iii)
A record that includes the
identity of a confidential source or the identity of a suspect who
has not
been charged with an offense to whom
confidentiality has been promised.
(
iv)
A record that includes
information made confidential by law or court order.
(
v)
Victim information, including
any information that would jeopardize the safety of the
victim.
(
vi)
A record that, if disclosed,
would do any of the following:
(
A)
Reveal the institution, progress
or result of a criminal investigation, except the filing
of
criminal charges.
(
B)
Deprive a person of the right to
a fair trial or an impartial adjudication.
(
C)
Impair the ability to locate a
defendant or codefendant.
(
D)
Hinder an
agency'
s ability to secure an arrest,
prosecution or conviction.
(
E)
Endanger the life or physical
safety of an individual.
This paragraph shall not apply to
information contained in a police blotter as defined in 18 Pa.C.S.
§ 9102
(
relating to
definitions)
and utilized or maintained by
the Pennsylvania State Police, local, campus,
transit or port authority police
department or other law enforcement agency or in a traffic
report
except as provided under 75 Pa.C.S. §
3754
(b)
(relating to accident prevention
investigations)
.
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(
17)
A record of an agency relating
to a noncriminal investigation, including:
(
i)
Complaints submitted to an
agency.
(
ii)
Investigative materials, notes,
correspondence and reports.
(
iii)
A record that includes the
identity of a confidential source, including individuals subject to
the act
of December 12, 1986
(P.L.1559,
No.169)
, known as the Whistleblower
Law.
(
iv)
A record that includes
information made confidential by law.
(
v)
Work papers underlying an
audit.
(
vi)
A record that, if disclosed,
would do any of the following:
(
A)
Reveal the institution, progress
or result of an agency investigation, except the imposition of
a
fine or civil penalty, the suspension,
modification or revocation of a license, permit,
registration, certification or similar
authorization issued by an agency or an executed
settlement agreement unless the
agreement is determined to be confidential by a court.
(
B)
Deprive a person of the right to
an impartial adjudication.
(
C)
Constitute an unwarranted
invasion of privacy.
(
D)
Hinder an
agency'
s ability to secure an
administrative or civil sanction.
(
E)
Endanger the life or physical
safety of an individual.
(
18)
(i)
Records or parts of records,
except time response logs, pertaining to audio recordings,
telephone or
radio transmissions received by
emergency dispatch personnel, including 911 recordings.
(
ii)
This paragraph shall not apply
to a 911 recording, or a transcript of a 911 recording, if the
agency or
a court determines that the public
interest in disclosure outweighs the interest in nondisclosure.
(
19)
DNA and RNA records.
(
20)
An autopsy record of a coroner
or medical examiner and any audiotape of a postmortem
examination
or autopsy, or a copy, reproduction or
facsimile of an autopsy report, a photograph, negative or
print,
including a photograph or videotape of
the body or any portion of the body of a deceased person at
the scene of death or in the course of
a postmortem examination or autopsy taken or made by or
caused to be taken or made by the
coroner or medical examiner. This exception shall not limit the
reporting of the name of the deceased
individual and the cause and manner of death.
(
21)
(i)
Draft minutes of any meeting of
an agency until the next regularly scheduled meeting of the
agency.
(
ii)
Minutes of an executive session
and any record of discussions held in executive session.
(
22)
(i)
The contents of real estate
appraisals, engineering or feasibility estimates, environmental
reviews,
audits or evaluations made for or by
an agency relative to the following:
(
A)
The leasing, acquiring or
disposing of real property or an interest in real
property.
(
B)
The purchase of public supplies
or equipment included in the real estate transaction.
(
C)
Construction
projects.
(
ii)
This paragraph shall not apply
once the decision is made to proceed with the lease, acquisition
or
disposal of real property or an
interest in real property or the purchase of public supply or
construction project.
(
23)
Library and archive circulation
and order records of an identifiable individual or groups of
individuals.
(
24)
Library archived and museum
materials, or valuable or rare book collections or documents
contributed
by gift, grant, bequest or devise, to
the extent of any limitations imposed by the donor as a
condition
of the contribution.
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(
25)
A record identifying the
location of an archeological site or an endangered or threatened
plant or
animal species if not already known to
the general public.
(
26)
A proposal pertaining to agency
procurement or disposal of supplies, services or construction prior
to
the award of the contract or prior to
the opening and rejection of all bids; financial information of
a
bidder or offeror requested in an
invitation for bid or request for proposals to demonstrate the
bidder
's or
offeror'
s economic capability; or the
identity of members, notes and other records of
agency proposal evaluation committees
established under 62 Pa.C.S. § 513
(
relating to
competitive
sealed proposals
)
.
(
27)
A record or information relating
to a communication between an agency and its insurance
carrier,
administrative service organization or
risk management office. This paragraph shall not apply to a
contract with an insurance carrier,
administrative service organization or risk management office or
to
financial records relating to the
provision of insurance.
(
28)
A record or
information:
(
i)
identifying an individual who
applies for or receives social services; or
(
ii)
relating to the
following:
(
A)
the type of social services
received by an individual;
(
B)
an individual'
s application to receive social
services, including a record or information related
to an agency decision to grant, deny,
reduce or restrict benefits, including a quasi
-
judicial
decision of the agency and the
identity of a caregiver or others who provide services to the
individual; or
(
C)
eligibility to receive social services, including the
individual'
s income, assets, physical or
mental
health, age, disability, family
circumstances or record of abuse.
(
29)
Correspondence between a person
and a member of the General Assembly and records
accompanying
the correspondence which would
identify a person that requests assistance or constituent
services.
This paragraph shall not apply to
correspondence between a member of the General Assembly and a
principal or lobbyist under 65 Pa.C.S.
Ch. 13A
(relating to lobbyist
disclosure)
.
(
30)
A record identifying the name,
home address or date of birth of a child 17 years of age or
younger.
(
c)
Financial records.
- The exceptions set forth in
subsection
(b)
shall not apply to financial
records, except
that an agency may redact that portion
of a financial record protected under subsection
(b)(
1),
(2)
,
(3)
,
(4)
,
(
5),
(6)
,
(16)
OR
(17)
. An agency shall not disclose
the identity of an individual performing an undercover
or
covert law enforcement activity.
(
d)
Aggregated data.
- The exceptions set forth in
subsection
(b)
shall not apply to aggregated
data
maintained or received by an agency,
except for data protected under subsection
(b)(
1),
(2)
,
(3)
,
(4)
or
(5)
.
(
e)
Construction. -
In determining whether a record
is exempt from access under this section, an agency
shall
consider and apply each exemption
separately.
CHAPTER 9 AGENCY RESPONSE
Section 901. General rule.
Upon receipt of a written request for
access to a record, an agency shall make a good faith effort to
determine
if the record requested is a public
record, legislative record or financial record and whether the
agency has
possession, custody or control of the
identified record, and to respond as promptly as possible under
the
circumstances existing at the time of
the request. All applicable fees shall be paid in order to
receive
access to the record requested. The
time for response shall not exceed five business days from the
date
the written request is received by the
open
-
records officer for an agency.
If the agency fails to send the
response within five business days of
receipt of the written request for access, the written request
for
access shall be deemed denied.
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Section 902. Extension of time.
(
a)
Determination.
- Upon receipt of a written
request for access, the
open-
records officer for an
agency
shall determine if one of the
following applies:
(
1)
the request for access requires
redaction of a record in accordance with section 706;
(
2)
the request for access requires
the retrieval of a record stored in a remote location;
(
3)
a timely response to the request
for access cannot be accomplished due to bona fide and
specified
staffing limitations;
(
4)
a legal review is necessary to
determine whether the record is a record subject to access under
this act;
(
5)
the requester has not complied with the
agency'
s policies regarding access to
records;
(
6)
the requester refuses to pay
applicable fees authorized by this act; or
(
7)
the extent or nature of the
request precludes a response within the required time
period.
(
b)
Notice.
-
(
1)
Upon a determination that one of the factors listed in
subsection
(a)
applies, the
open-
records officer
shall send written notice to the
requester within five business days of receipt of the request for
access
under subsection
(a)
.
(
2)
The notice shall include a
statement notifying the requester that the request for access is
being
reviewed, the reason for the review, a
reasonable date that a response is expected to be provided and
an estimate of applicable fees owed
when the record becomes available. If the date that a response
is
expected to be provided is in excess
of 30 days, following the five business days allowed for in
section
901, the request for access shall be
deemed denied unless the requester has agreed in writing to an
extension to the date specified in the
notice.
(
3)
If the requester agrees to the
extension, the request shall be deemed denied on the day following
the
date specified in the notice if the
agency has not provided a response by that date.
Section 903. Denial.
If an agency
'
s response is a denial of a
written request for access, whether in whole or in part, the denial
shall
be issued in writing and shall
include:
(
1)
A description of the record
requested.
(
2)
The specific reasons for the
denial, including a citation of supporting legal
authority.
(
3)
The typed or printed name,
title, business address, business telephone number and signature of
the
open
-
records officer on whose
authority the denial is issued.
(
4)
Date of the response.
(
5)
The procedure to appeal the
denial of access under this act.
Section 904. Certified copies.
If an agency
'
s response grants a request for
access, the agency shall, upon request, provide the requester with
a
certified copy of the record if the
requester pays the applicable fees under section 1307.
Section 905. Record discard.
If an agency response to a requester
states that copies of the requested records are available for
delivery at the
office of an agency and the requester
fails to retrieve the records within 60 days of the agency
'
s response,
the agency may dispose of any copies
which have not been retrieved and retain any fees paid to date.
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CHAPTER 11. APPEAL OF AGENCY
DETERMINATION
Section 1101. Filing of appeal.
(
a)
Authorization.
-
(
1)
If a written request for access
to a record is denied or deemed denied, the requester may file an
appeal
with the Office of Open Records or
judicial, legislative or other appeals officer designated under
section 503
(d)
within 15 business days of the mailing date of the
agency'
s response or within
15
business days of a deemed denial. The
appeal shall state the grounds upon which the requester asserts
that the record is a public record,
legislative record or financial record and shall address any
grounds
stated by the agency for delaying or
denying the request.
(
2)
Except as provided in section
503(d
)
, in the case of an appeal of a
decision by a Commonwealth agency
or local agency, the Office of Open
Records shall assign an appeals officer to review the denial.
(
b)
Determination.
-
(
1)
Unless the requester agrees
otherwise, the appeals officer shall make a final determination
which shall
be mailed to the requester and the
agency within 30 days of receipt of the appeal filed under
subsection
(a)
.
(
2)
If the appeals officer fails to
issue a final determination within 30 days, the appeal is deemed
denied.
(
3)
Prior to issuing a final
determination, a hearing may be conducted. The determination by the
appeals
officer shall be a final order. The
appeals officer shall provide a written explanation of the reason
for
the decision to the requester and the
agency.
(
c)
Direct interest.
-
(
1)
A person other than the agency
or requester with a direct interest in the record subject to an
appeal
under this section may, within 15 days
following receipt of actual knowledge of the appeal but no
later
than the date the appeals officer
issues an order, file a written request to provide information or
to
appear before the appeals officer or
to file information in support of the requester
's or
agency'
s
position.
(
2)
The appeals officer may grant a request under
paragraph
(1)
if:
(
i)
no hearing has been
held;
(
ii)
the appeals officer has not yet
issued its order; and
(
iii)
the appeals officer believes the
information will be probative.
(
3)
Copies of the written request
shall be sent to the agency and the requester.
Section 1102. Appeals officers.
(
a)
Duties. -
An appeals officer designated
under section 503 shall do all of the following:
(
1)
Set a schedule for the requester and the
open-
records officer to submit
documents in support of their
positions.
(
2)
Review all information filed
relating to the request. The appeals officer may hold a hearing. A
decision
to hold or not to hold a hearing is
not appealable. The appeals officer may admit into evidence
testimony, evidence and documents that
the appeals officer believes to be reasonably probative and
relevant to an issue in dispute. The
appeals officer may limit the nature and extent of evidence
found
to be cumulative.
(
3)
Consult with agency counsel as
appropriate.
(
4)
Issue a final determination on
behalf of the Office of Open Records or other agency.
(
b)
Procedures. -
The Office of Open Records, a
judicial agency, a legislative agency, the Attorney
General,
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19
Auditor General, State Treasurer or
district attorney may adopt procedures relating to appeals under
this
chapter.
(
1)
If an appeal is resolved without a hearing, 1 Pa. Code
Pt. II (
relating to general rules of
administrative
practice and procedure
)
does not apply except to the
extent that the agency has adopted these
chapters in its regulations or rules
under this subsection.
(
2)
If a hearing is held, 1 Pa. Code
Pt. II shall apply unless the agency has adopted regulations,
policies or
procedures to the contrary under this
subsection.
(
3)
In the absence of a regulation,
policy or procedure governing appeals under this chapter, the
appeals
officer shall rule on procedural
matters on the basis of justice, fairness and the expeditious
resolution
of the dispute.
CHAPTER 13. JUDICIAL REVIEW
Section 1301. Commonwealth agencies,
legislative agencies and judicial agencies.
(
a)
General rule. -
Within 30 days of the mailing
date of the final determination of the appeals officer
relating to a decision of a
Commonwealth agency, a legislative agency or a judicial agency
issued under
section 1101
(b)
or the date a request for access
is deemed denied, a requester or the agency may file a
petition for review or other document
as might be required by rule of court with the Commonwealth
Court. The decision of the court shall
contain findings of fact and conclusions of law based upon the
evidence as a whole. The decision
shall clearly and concisely explain the rationale for the
decision.
(
b)
Stay. -
A petition for review under this
section shall stay the release of documents until a decision
under
subsection
(a)
is issued.
Section 1302. Local agencies.
(
a)
General rule. -
Within 30 days of the mailing
date of the final determination of the appeals officer
relating to a decision of a local
agency issued under section 1101
(b)
or of the date a request for
access is
deemed denied, a requester or local
agency may file a petition for review or other document as
required
by rule of court with the court of
common pleas for the county where the local agency is located.
The
decision of the court shall contain
findings of fact and conclusions of law based upon the evidence as
a
whole. The decision shall clearly and
concisely explain the rationale for the decision.
(
b)
Stay. -
A petition for review under this
section shall stay the release of documents until a decision
under
subsection
(a)
is issued.
Section 1303. Notice and records.
(
a)
Notice. -
An agency, the requester and the
Office of Open Records or designated appeals officer shall
be
served notice of actions commenced in
accordance with section 1301 or 1302 and shall have an
opportunity to respond in accordance
with applicable court rules.
(
b)
Record on appeal.
- The record before a court
shall consist of the request, the
agency'
s response, the
appeal filed under section 1101, the
hearing transcript, if any, and the final written determination of
the
appeals officer.
Section 1304. Court costs and attorney
fees.
(
a)
Reversal of agency determination.
-
If a court reverses the final
determination of the appeals officer
or grants access to a record after a
request for access was deemed denied, the court may award
reasonable
attorney fees and costs of litigation
or an appropriate portion thereof to a requester if the court
finds
either of the following:
(
1)
the agency receiving the
original request willfully or with wanton disregard deprived the
requester of
access to a public record subject to
access or otherwise acted in bad faith under the provisions of
this
act; or
(
2)
the exemptions, exclusions or
defenses asserted by the agency in its final determination were not
based
on a reasonable interpretation of
law.
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(
b)
Sanctions for frivolous requests or
appeals. -
The court may award reasonable
attorney fees and
costs of litigation or an appropriate
portion thereof to an agency or the requester if the court finds
that
the legal challenge under this chapter
was frivolous.
(
c)
Other sanctions.
-
Nothing in this act shall
prohibit a court from imposing penalties and costs in
accordance with applicable rules of
court.
Section 1305. Civil penalty.
(
a)
Denial of access.
- A court may impose a civil
penalty of not more than $
1,500 if an agency
denied
access to a public record in bad
faith.
(
b)
Failure to comply with court order.
-
An agency or public official who
does not promptly comply
with a court order under this act is
subject to a civil penalty of not more than
$
500 per day until the
public records are provided.
Section 1306. Immunity.
(
a)
General rule. -
Except as provided in sections
1304 and 1305 and other statutes governing the release
of
records, no agency, public official or
public employee shall be liable for civil penalties resulting
from
compliance or failure to comply with
this act.
(
b)
Schedules. -
No agency, public official or
public employee shall be liable for civil or criminal damages
or
penalties under this act for complying
with any written public record retention and disposition
schedule.
Section 1307. Fee limitations.
(
a)
Postage. -
Fees for postage may not exceed
the actual cost of mailing.
(
b)
Duplication.
-
(
1)
Fees for duplication by
photocopying, printing from electronic media or microfilm, copying
onto
electronic media, transmission by
facsimile or other electronic means and other means of
duplication
shall be established:
(
i)
by the Office of Open Records,
for Commonwealth agencies and local agencies;
(
ii)
by each judicial agency;
and
(
iii)
by each legislative
agency.
(
2)
The fees must be reasonable and
based on prevailing fees for comparable duplication services
provided
by local business entities.
(
3)
Fees for local agencies may
reflect regional price differences.
(
4)
The following apply to complex
and extensive data sets, including geographic information systems
or
integrated property assessment
lists.
(
i)
Fees for copying may be based on
the reasonable market value of the same or closely related
data
sets.
(
ii)
Subparagraph
(i)
shall not apply to:
(
A)
a request by an individual
employed by or connected with a newspaper or magazine of
general
circulation, weekly newspaper
publication, press association or radio or television station,
for
the purpose of obtaining information
for publication or broadcast; or
(
B)
a request by a nonprofit
organization for the conduct of educational research.
(
iii)
Information obtained under subparagraph
(ii)
shall be subject to paragraphs
(1)
,
(2)
and
(3)
.
(
c)
Certification.
-
An agency may impose reasonable
fees for official certification of copies if the
certification is at the behest of the
requester and for the purpose of legally verifying the public
record.
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(
d)
Conversion to paper.
-
If a record is only maintained
electronically or in other nonpaper media,
duplication fees shall be limited to
the lesser of the fee for duplication on paper or the fee for
duplication
in the original media as provided by
subsection
(b)
unless the requester
specifically requests for the record
to be duplicated in the more expensive
medium.
(
e)
Enhanced electronic access.
-
If an agency offers enhanced
electronic access to records in addition to
making the records accessible for
inspection and duplication by a requester as required by this act,
the
agency may establish user fees
specifically for the provision of the enhanced electronic access,
but only to
the extent that the enhanced
electronic access is in addition to making the records accessible
for
inspection and duplication by a
requester as required by this act. The user fees for enhanced
electronic
access may be a flat rate, a
subscription fee for a period of time, a per
-
transaction fee, a fee based on
the
cumulative time of system access or
any other reasonable method and any combination thereof. The
user
fees for enhanced electronic access
must be reasonable, must be approved by the Office of Open
Records
and may not be established with the
intent or effect of excluding persons from access to records or
duplicates thereof or of creating
profit for the agency.
(
f)
Waiver of fees.
-
An agency may waive the fees for
duplication of a record, including, but not limited to,
when:
(
1)
the requester duplicates the
record; or
(
2)
the agency deems it is in the
public interest to do so.
(
g)
Limitations. -
Except as otherwise provided by
statute, no other fees may be imposed unless the agency
necessarily incurs costs for complying
with the request, and such fees must be reasonable. No fee may
be
imposed for an agency
'
s review of a record to
determine whether the record is a public record,
legislative
record or financial record subject to
access in accordance with this act.
(
h)
Prepayment. -
Prior to granting a request for
access in accordance with this act, an agency may
require
a requester to prepay an estimate of
the fees authorized under this section if the fees required to
fulfill
the request are expected to exceed
$
100.
Section 1308. Prohibition.
A policy or regulation adopted under
this act may not include any of the following:
(
1)
A limitation on the number of
records which may be requested or made available for inspection
or
duplication.
(
2)
A requirement to disclose the
purpose or motive in requesting access to records.
Section 1309. Practice and
procedure.
The provisions of 2 Pa.C.S.
(relating to administrative
law and procedure)
shall not apply to this act
unless
specifically adopted by regulation or
policy.
Section 1310. Office of Open
Records.
(
a)
Establishment.
-
There is established in the
Department of Community and Economic Development
an Office of Open Records.
The office shall do all of the
following:
(
1)
Provide information relating to
the implementation and enforcement of this act.
(
2)
Issue advisory opinions to
agencies and requesters.
(
3)
Provide annual training courses
to agencies, public officials and public employees on this act and
65
Pa.C.S. Ch. 7
(relating to open
meetings)
.
(
4)
Provide annual, regional
training courses to local agencies, public officials and public
employees.
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(
5)
Assign appeals officers to
review appeals of decisions by Commonwealth agencies or local
agencies,
except as provided in section 503
(d)
, filed under section 1101 and
issue orders and opinions. The office
shall employ or contract with
attorneys to serve as appeals officers to review appeals and, if
necessary,
to hold hearings on a regional basis
under this act. Each appeals officer must comply with all of
the
following:
(
i)
Complete a training course
provided by the Office of Open Records prior to acting as an
appeals
officer.
(
ii)
If a hearing is necessary, hold
hearings regionally as necessary to ensure access to the
remedies
provided by this act.
(
iii)
Comply with the procedures under section
1102(b
)
.
(
6)
Establish an informal mediation
program to resolve disputes under this act.
(
7)
Establish an Internet website
with information relating to this act, including information on
fees,
advisory opinions and decisions and
the name and address of all open records officers in this
Commonwealth.
(
8)
Conduct a biannual review of
fees charged under this act.
(
9)
Annually report on its
activities and findings to the Governor and the General Assembly.
The report
shall be posted and maintained on the
Internet website established under paragraph
(7)
.
(
b)
Executive director.
-
Within 90 days of the effective
date of this section, the Governor shall appoint
an executive director of the office
who shall serve for a term of six years. Compensation shall be set
by the
Executive Board established under
section 204 of the act of April 9, 1929
(P.L.177,
No.175)
, known as The
Administrative Code of 1929. The
executive director may serve no more than two terms.
(
c)
Limitation. -
The executive director shall not
seek election nor accept appointment to any political
office during his tenure as executive
director and for one year thereafter.
(
d)
Staffing. -
The executive director shall
appoint attorneys to act as appeals officers and
additional
clerical, technical and professional
staff as may be appropriate and may contract for additional
services as
necessary for the performance of the
executive director
'
s duties. The compensation of
attorneys and
other staff shall be set by the
Executive Board. The appointment of attorneys shall not be subject
to the
act of October 15, 1980
(P.L.950,
No.164)
, known as the Commonwealth
Attorneys Act.
(
e)
Duties. -
The executive director shall
ensure that the duties of the Office of Open Records are
carried
out and shall monitor cases appealed
to the Office of Open Records.
(
f)
Appropriation.
-
The appropriation for the office
shall be in a separate line item and shall be under the
jurisdiction of the executive
director.
CHAPTER 15. STATE-RELATED
INSTITUTIONS
Section 1501. Definition.
As used in this chapter,
"State
-related
institution"
means any of the
following:
(
1)
Temple University.
(
2)
The University of
Pittsburgh.
(
3)
The Pennsylvania State
University.
(
4)
Lincoln University.
Section 1502. Reporting.
No later than May 30 of each year, a
State
-related institution shall
file with the Governor'
s Office, the General
Assembly, the Auditor General and the
State Library the information set forth in section 1503.
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Section 1503. Contents of report.
The report required under section 1502
shall include the following:
(
1)
Except as provided in paragraph
(4)
, all information required by
Form 990 or an equivalent form, of the
United States Department of the
Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, entitled the Return of
Organization Exempt From Income Tax,
regardless of whether the State
-
related institution
is
required to file the form by the
Federal Government.
(
2)
The salaries of all officers and directors of the
State-
related institution.
(
3)
The highest 25 salaries paid to employees of the
institution that are not included under paragraph
(2)
.
(
4)
The report shall not include
information relating to individual donors.
Section 1504. Copies and posting.
A State
-related institution shall
maintain, for at least seven years, a copy of the report in the
institution'
s
library and shall provide free access
to the report on the institution
'
s Internet website.
CHAPTER 17. STATE CONTRACT
INFORMATION
Section 1701. Submission and retention
of contracts.
(
a)
General rule. -
Whenever any Commonwealth
agency, legislative agency or judicial agency shall
enter
into any contract involving any
property, real, personal or mixed of any kind or description or
any
contract for personal services where
the consideration involved in the contract is
$
5,000 or more, a copy
of the contract shall be filed with
the Treasury Department within ten days after the contract is
fully
executed on behalf of the Commonwealth
agency, legislative agency or judicial agency or otherwise
becomes an obligation of the
Commonwealth agency, legislative agency or judicial agency. The
provisions
of this chapter shall not apply to
contracts for services protected by a privilege. The provisions of
this
chapter shall not apply to a purchase
order evidencing fulfillment of an existing contract but shall
apply to
a purchase order evidencing new
obligations. The following shall apply:
(
1)
Each Commonwealth agency,
legislative agency and judicial agency shall submit contracts in a
form and
structure mutually agreed upon by the
Commonwealth agency, legislative agency or judicial agency
and the State Treasurer.
(
2)
The Treasury Department may
require each Commonwealth agency, legislative agency or
judicial
agency to provide a summary with each
contract, which shall include the following:
(
i)
Date of execution.
(
ii)
Amount of the
contract.
(
iii)
Beginning date of the
contract.
(
iv)
End date of the contract, if
applicable.
(
v)
Name of the agency entering into
the contract.
(
vi)
The name of all parties
executing the contract.
(
vii)
Subject matter of the
contract.
Each agency shall create and maintain
the data under this paragraph in an ASCII
-
delimited text file,
spreadsheet file or other file
provided by Treasury Department regulation.
(
b)
Retention. -
Every contract filed pursuant to
subsection
(a)
shall remain on file with the
Treasury
Department for a period of not less
than four years after the end date of the contract.
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(
c)
Accuracy. -
Each Commonwealth agency,
legislative agency and judicial agency is responsible
for
verifying the accuracy and
completeness of the information that it submits to the State
Treasurer. The
contract provided to the Treasury
Department pursuant to this chapter shall be redacted in
accordance
with applicable provisions of this act
by the agency filing the contract to the Treasury Department.
(
d)
Applicability.
-
The provisions of this act shall
not apply to copies of contracts submitted to the
Treasury Department, the Office of
Auditor General or other agency for purposes of audits and
warrants
for disbursements under section 307,
401, 402 or 403 of the act of April 9, 1929
(P.L.343,
No.176)
, known
as The Fiscal Code.
Section 1702. Public availability of
contracts.
(
a)
General rule. -
The Treasury Department shall
make each contract filed pursuant to section 1701
available for public inspection either
by posting a copy of the contract on the Treasury Department
'
s
publicly accessible Internet website
or by posting a contract summary on the department
'
s publicly
accessible Internet website.
(
b)
Posting. -
The Treasury Department shall
post the information received pursuant to this chapter in
a
manner that allows the public to
search contracts or contract summaries by the categories enumerated
in
section 1701
(a)(
2)
.
(
c)
Request to review or receive copy of
contract. -
The Treasury Department shall
maintain a page on
its publicly accessible Internet
website that includes instructions on how to review a contract on
the
Internet website.
(
d)
Paper copy. -
A paper copy of a contract may
be requested from the agency that executed the contract
in accordance with this act.
CHAPTER 31. MISCELLANEOUS
PROVISIONS
Section 3101. Applicability.
This Act shall apply to requests for
information made after December 31, 2008.
Section 3101.1. Relation to other
laws.
If the provisions of this act
regarding access to records conflict with any other federal or
state law, the
provisions of this act shall not
apply.
Section 3101.2. Severability.
All provisions of this act are
severable.
Section 3102. Repeals.
Repeals are as follows:
(
1)
The General Assembly declares as
follows:
(
i)
The repeal under paragraph
(2)(
i)
is necessary to effectuate
Chapter 17.
(
ii)
The repeals under paragraph
(2)(
ii)
and
(iii
)
are necessary to effectuate this
act.
(
2)
The following acts and parts of
acts are repealed:
(
i)
Section 1104 of the act of April 9, 1929
(P.L.177,
No.175)
, known as The Administrative
Code of
1929.
(
ii)
The act of June 21, 1957
(P.L.390,
No.212),
referred to as the
Right-to
-
Know Law.
(
iii)
62 Pa.C.S. § 106.
Pennsylvania's New Right-To-Know
Law
25
Section 3103. References.
Notwithstanding 1 PA.C.S. § 1937
(B)
, a reference in a statute or regulation to the act of
June 21, 1957 (
P.L.390,
No.212
), referred to as the
Right-to
-
Know Law, shall be deemed a
reference to this act.
Section 3104. Effective date.
This act shall take effect as
follows:
(
1)
The following provisions shall
take effect immediately:
(
i)
Sections 101, 102 and
1310.
(
ii)
This section.
(
2)
Chapters 15 and 17 and sections
3102(1
)(I)
and
3102(2
)(I)
shall take effect July 1,
2008.
(
3)
The remainder of this act shall
take effect January 1, 2009.
###