Just one of every five open-records requests submitted to Westmoreland County this year was granted, according to the gatekeeper of those documents. Westmoreland County this year fielded requests from the public for about 500 documents, the most ever received, according to county officials.
Read More...

With the revamping of open records laws in Pennsylvania earlier this year, the Williamsport Sun-Gazette agreed to become part of an effort with The Associated Press and other newspapers statewide to see just how accessible government records are in municipalities and school districts.
Read More...

POTTSTOWN — As it turns out, freedom of information is not free. The changes to Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law come at a cost to taxpayers, say officials with the Pottstown School District — $13,217 to be exact -- and that's just the legal fees.
Read More...

Many issues that have arisen during the first year under Pennsylvania's revised Right-to-Know Law, which may soon be amended. Should taxpayers have to foot a part of the cost of massive requests? How does the law work when the records are also integral to an ongoing lawsuit? Should the government be able to cancel a request it deems to be a practical impossibility?
Read More...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A new test of how government agencies respond to records requests shows that a year after Pennsylvania's revamped Right-to-Know Law took effect, it may be transforming attitudes among public officials about the public documents and information under their control. Over two days this fall, reporters and others from 33 Pennsylvania newspapers, a TV station, and a community college journalism class filed 274 requests for public records from police agencies, local government offices and school districts in an audit coordinated by The Associated Press.
Read More...

NORRISTOWN — The Times Herald partnered with The Associated Press in its 2009 audit of the Pennsylvania Right-To-Know Law by sending several staffers on undercover assignments to various municipalities, school districts and police departments throughout the coverage area in early October. Read More...

How the audit of compliance with Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law was conducted. Read More...

List of news organizations that participated in the design and execution of the 2009 audit survey of compliance with Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law. Read More...

During two days in early October, five surveyors dispatched by the Centre Daily Times drove more than 230 miles and traveled to 11 public agencies in Centre County to test the state's almost year-old Right-to-Know Law. Read More...

Public Opinion participated in the 2009 Audit of Public Access to Government Records, requesting five items from five different departments with two failures among them: Shippensburg Police Department and Franklin County 911. Read More...

As part of the Associated Press' Right-to-Know Law audit, staff writers Kent Jackson, Coulter Jones and Bob Kalinowski canvassed communities in The Citizens' Voice's and Standard-Speaker's coverage area over several days in October. They made requests for what are supposed to be public documents, and didn't identify themselves as newspaper reporters until pressed. Here's what they encountered: Read More...

Four years ago, when Christina Perrone began showing up at Radnor Township meetings asking about municipal spending, authorities in the Delaware County suburb treated her like an unwelcome pest.
Read More...

Major provisions of the Right-to-Know Law that took full effect in January 2009. Read More...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A wealth of information about the actions and decisions of Pennsylvania public officials has been pried loose in the year since a broad expansion of the state's Right-to-Know Law took effect. There are signs, including a recent spot check of government agencies, that the state is shedding its long-standing reputation as a public-access backwater. Read More...

Reporters across the state put Pennsylvania's nearly year-old open records law to the test recently in a fun but eye-opening project spearheaded by The Associated Press. Read More...

So what happens when a government hires a contractor to perform a task – engineering work, making a grant request, zoning decisions – and the contractor keeps the paperwork? How can people see documents they are entitled to see? When dealing with the smallest municipalities, governments with only a few part-time employees, it can get complicated. Read More...

In October, the York Daily Record/Sunday News made 18 right-to-know requests as part of a statewide audit of the new open records law that was led by The Associated Press. Here are the results of those requests. The records requested were public under the law. Read More...

The Newberry Township Police Department fulfilled a request for a 24-hour incident log only after requiring the requester to identify his employer. Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know law does not require requesters to identify their employer before being given access to a record, according to the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association's media law counsel. A reporter from the York Daily Record/Sunday News asked for a log of calls the department responded to Oct. 3 as part of the Associated Press' statewide audit of public access to government records under Pennsylvania's new Right-to-Know law. Read More...

As 2009 comes to a close, we know already that the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association will be fighting three recently-introduced bills that are intended to close more records, all of which were reported from their original committees this week.
Read More...

As 2009 comes to a close, we know already that PNA will be fighting three recently-introduced bills that are intended to close more records, all of which were reported from their original committees this week. Read More...

HARRISBURG - An effort to post a list of 66 Senate contracts and leases on an open-records Web site has run into lengthy delays. Last August, Senate officials said they hoped to have the taxpayer-funded contracts accessible on the state Treasury contracts Web site within a matter of days. These contracts fall under posting requirements in the state open records law which took effect earlier this year. That remains an elusive goal at year's end. Read More...

The Pocono Record's fight for documents held by the nonprofit once run by the man accused in the sex-and-scholarship scandal at East Stroudsburg University reached the state's second-highest court Monday. Read More...

We sometimes get asked what the average man or woman can do to impact government and encourage reform. On cynical days, it’s easy to feel helpless against “the establishment.”
Besides voting (or running for office yourself), one of the best ways to get active in Pennsylvania is to take advantage of the state’s Right to Know Law. Read More...

York County President Judge Richard K. Renn ruled Thursday the county is in compliance with the commonwealth's Right-To-Know law when it refuses to release addresses in emergency time response logs. Read More...

Students at the Monroe Campus of Northampton Community College's (NCC) Journalism and Society class played an integral part in the Associated Press (AP) Pennsylvania-wide audit, "Right to Know." They were the only students to take part in the project, which otherwise included media professionals. Read More...

The Daily & Sunday Review will not appeal further the denial by the state of the newspaper's right-to-know law request for access to the "inappropriate material" found two years ago on computers used by Bradford County Common Pleas President Judge Jeffrey Smith.
Read More...

Terry Mutchler, executive director of the state Office of Open Records, has a quick response when asked how things are going. " 'Busy' is the short answer," Ms. Mutchler said last week. "We're just overwhelmed."

Ms. Mutchler and her nine-member staff routinely work 12-hour days or longer to keep pace with a flood of paperwork.

To date, they have processed 1,006 appeals, conducted 300 training sessions around the state on the new Right-to-Know Law and fielded more than 5,000 e-mail and telephone inquiries. Read More...

Until this year, Pennsylvania's open-records law had an abysmal reputation.

But on Jan. 1, a revised Right-to-Know Law took effect. Eleven days later, the state's newly created, independent Office of Open Records began refereeing its first dispute between the public and a government agency.

Now, Mr. Davis said, as the one-year anniversary approaches, Pennsylvania's open-records law "easily" ranks in the top third across the nation -- what he called a "signal improvement."
Read More...

Why is it still so difficult for citizens to get public documents from the Legislature a year after lawmakers passed a new law and promised a new day? WTAE Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons reports that no one knows how the Legislature is doing under the new Right To Know Law. Read More...

A Monroe County judge overturned two rulings made by the state's new Office of Open Records, which will keep information about the paychecks of public employees and pre-meeting materials out of view. Read More...

Bradford County President Judge Jeffrey Smith has hired a private attorney to fight The Review's effort to inspect the non-judicial content of a copy of the hard drives on computers he used. Read More...

A Mercer County Common Pleas Court judge next week will hear the appeal of the Sharon Sanitary Authority regarding the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruling that they must allow The Herald to inspect delinquent sewer accounts. Read More...

The state Office of Open Records has ruled a Dunmore councilwoman must turn over e-mail correspondence between herself and other council members regarding the former borough manager. Read More...

The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruled Sept. 21 that the City of McKeesport is required to provide the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with documents and information surrounding an investigation into allegations of officers stealing money from the police department. Read More...

Last month, when the Commonwealth Court issued its first published opinion addressing Pennsylvania's new Right-to-Know Law, it shone a bright light on a long-standing issue: the inherent tension between the public's right to access government records and a person's interest in the privacy of information that the government possesses about him. The Commonwealth Court's recent opinion, Pennsylvania State Education Association v. Commonwealth, further muddles the privacy question and, unless corrected, stands to cause an array of additional problems. Read More...

MYERSTOWN - Elco [Eastern Lebanon County School District] remains committed to abiding by the state's open-records law, school-board President Donna Moyer said Monday night, but the procedures are growing "a bit expensive." Read More...

Former News-Item and Patriot News reporter David DeKok has written a revised and updated book about the mine fire in Centralia that details the relocation of residents, demolition of most of the town and the resistance of a few diehards. "Pennsylvania's new Open Records Act, which took effect at the beginning of 2009, greatly aided my research," DeKok said. Read More...

Q: The school board secretary makes a tape recording of all school board meetings and uses the recording to draft meeting minutes. Occasionally, it takes the school board months to complete and adopt meeting minutes based on this recording, and they refuse to release the tape recording or draft minutes. Is the tape recording a public record? How long can the school board take to adopt official minutes?Can I get a copy of the draft minutes? Read More...

Since the beginning of the year, a new Pennsylvania law on public records has been sending tremors through state and local governments. Unprecedented numbers of citizens, civic groups, reporters and businesses have filed thousands of requests for government documents and data. Now come the aftershocks: Dozens of public-record lawsuits are piling up in courthouses around the state, waiting for judges to spit out rulings on what the law really means. Read More...

The mountain of trash at the Chrin Bros. Sanitary Landfill and other contentious issues in Williams Township have spurred the growth of another mountain -- one of open record requests. Read More...

The York Township board of commissioners voted Tuesday to appeal a landmark decision from the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, but attached one proviso -- taxpayers won't foot the bill. Read More...

The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records has withdrawn from a court case appealing its own ruling that Luzerne County must disclose who gets health-care benefits from the county. Read More...

In case you’ve been keeping score, there was movement on two damaging public notice bills last session, both of which died in the Senate – one in Appropriations and the other tabled on the floor calendar. So far this year, there has been activity in both the House and the Senate, with local government organizations pushing five virtually identical bills this session. Read More...

For the second time in two months, two York Township commissioners have been ordered to hand over e-mails concerning township business that were sent from or received by their home computers. Read More...

Carroll Citizens for Sensible Growth has appealed to the Office of Open Records to obtain stormwater and traffic study information on a new set of plans for the Village at South Mountain submitted to Carroll Township by Dillsburg Ventures, LLC. Read More...

Corruption hunters have a target-rich environment not only in Northeast Pennsylvania but in many parts of the commonwealth, including Harrisburg. But while federal and state prosecutors continue to work on individual criminal cases, little is being done institutionally to thwart corruption and improve governance. Read More...

A York Township commissioner said he shouldn't have to file Right-to-Know requests to the township to get information that he plans to address during board of commissioner meetings. Read More...

The public's right to know — which was enshrined in a robust new Pennsylvania law that took effect eight months ago — has become the target of roll-back efforts by local and state agencies. Read More...

HARRISBURG - The state Senate has released a list of 66 contracts and leases that will be posted soon on the Treasury contracts Web site to comply with the state open-records law. Read More...

HARRISBURG - Online for one year, the Pennsylvania Contracts e-Library is one of the first fruits of the state's new open records law.
This e-library ostensibly allows the public to search and review on a Web site many state contracts worth more than $5,000 that have been awarded since July 1, 2008, by state agencies and the Legislature. The open records law requires state and legislative agencies to file these contracts (with some exceptions) within 10 days after the contract is fully executed with the state Treasury for posting. But not all contracts that fit the law's requirements are on the Treasury Web site. Read More...

NORRISTOWN — In a victory for public information, an officer from the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records granted an appeal from a Times Herald reporter seeking documents that were originally denied for release from a Montgomery County authority. Read More...

It’s been a busy spring and summer defending against a plethora of legislative proposals that all reduce citizens’ access to information, from ‘shoppers’ bills that would steer controversial legal notices to that junk mail at the foot of your driveway, to Internet ‘advertising’ that would give a leg up to somebody’s best buddy – oops, pre-qualified bidder. Read More...

In a disappointing ruling dated July 22, 2009, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed an open records appeal as improvidently granted. The parties had been waiting for a decision from the Court since March 5, 2007, the date the Court granted the appeal. Read More...

The Office of Open Records will issue no final determinations ordering the release of public employee home addresses, pending resolution of a petition made by the Pennsylvania State Education Association by the Commonwealth Court . Read More...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A state appellate court judge has ordered a temporary halt to releasing school district employees' home addresses listed on records requests made under Pennsylvania's new Right-to-Know Law. Read More...

The union representing most public school employees in Pennsylvania yesterday won a temporary injunction in Commonwealth Court to shield the home addresses of all public-school employees under the new open-records law. Read More...

God help us when government tries to protect us. House Bill 1667 would amend Pennsylvania's right-to-know law to exclude date of birth as information of public record. Read More...

In an order dated July 28, 2009, Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Rochelle S. Friedman granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the release of home addresses of public school employees. Read More...

Some state lawmakers have taken a pause from the time-consuming process of not passing a state budget in order to return to the perennial pursuit of limiting public access to public information. What you know, after all, can hurt them. Read More...

To what level of detail can a resident find out what happened at a municipal meeting? The answer to that question varies depending on who you ask.
Read More...

The state's new Office of Open Records is on pace to see about 1,000 open records denial appeals this year. More appeals are expected to be filed next year, as people become more familiar with the law, said Barry Fox, deputy director of the open records office. But it's looking like the office is going to have its $1.3 million budget request cut by about $335,000, something that Fox says will hurt the ability of the new agency to fulfill its mission. Read More...

We’ve said it before, but it really is all about the public’s right to know – public records verify current and past government activity, and public notices tell us what government is planning in our own backyard. Read More...

Volunteer fire and ambulance organizations are making a strong push for relief from Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law, a movement that is getting support in the state Legislature and drawing criticism from open records advocates. Read More...

HARRISBURG -- The ability of two oversight agencies to carry out their mandates is threatened by state budget cuts, a watchdog group says. Pennsylvania Common Cause is urging the governor and lawmakers to maintain funding for the Office of Open Records and the state Ethics Commission at previous year levels. Read More...

The open records policy adopted by Hatboro Borough Council in January is being challenged for the first time by both a resident and a member of borough council who want access to a document ruled unavailable to the public by the borough’s public records officer and solicitor. Read More...

Sometimes it's hard to get a straight answer - even when we file a written request for one, then wait five business days and sometimes up to a month on top of that. Read More...

For decades, attorneys who work part-time for Luzerne County or Luzerne County courts have been provided health insurance benefits or payment in lieu of benefits. Who are they? How many? What's the cost? We can't tell you that, thanks to a county lawsuit aimed at blocking the newspaper from reviewing health-insurance documents.
Read More...

When Pat Barget requested a copy of the South Eastern School District proposed budget in May, she was denied. The budget was due to be approved by the school district by June 30, but the documents Barget wanted were draft records, not subject to the state's Right-to-Know law, the district wrote back. "It would be a disservice to the community and to the District, to provide information that is a draft document," the district's refusal letter read. The state Office of Open Records disagreed. Read More...

HARRISBURG -- The slow process this week of obtaining copies of leases for state Sen. Robert Mellow's district office highlighted the inefficiency of the Senate's process compared to that of the House of Representatives. Read More...

A recent court ruling excusing volunteer fire companies from responding to requests under the state's Right-to-Know Law was on the mark, said a local state representative and volunteer fire chief. A media attorney disagrees. Read More...

The York Daily Record/Sunday News and York County are headed to court over the newspaper's request for what the state deems a public record: 911 time-response logs. Read More...

York County's refusal to release addresses or locations along with dispatch and arrival times of emergency responders is not an attempt to stop the York Daily Record/Sunday News from reviewing that data, county solicitor Michael Flannelly said Friday. Read More...

Scott Pierce, 40, Morris Township, appeared in court today to stand up for his claim that the township fire company’s records are public. Thanks in part to support from state Rep. Matt Baker, the judge ruled those records are not public at all. Read More...

The company hired to manage Wachovia Arena has provided a complete copy of its management contract that guarantees the company a minimum of $2 million over the next 10 years. Read More...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Tens of millions of tax dollars that support Pennsylvania lawmakers' favored causes are directed by legislative leaders through a secretive process that appears to benefit some leaders' constituents the most, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Read More...

The Shenandoah Valley school board never voted on the policy used to keep a Republican-Herald reporter out of Shenandoah Valley High School’s 2009 graduation ceremony, according to an open records request response received by the newspaper Wednesday. Read More...

The board that oversees Wachovia Arena last week refused to release the financial terms of a new contract for management of the facility, and attorneys disagree on the legality of the decision. Read More...

The Chester Community Charter School has filed a court appeal to a recent Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruling that gave The Inquirer access to a wide range of financial records from the management company that operates the school. Read More...

People who make Right-to-Know requests from York Township can soon expect to see their names posted on the township's Web site. During a meeting Tuesday night, the board of commissioners voted 3-2 to post the names, dates, reasons why requesters had made the requests and the cost incurred by the township. Read More...

York County solicitor Mike Flannelly said Wednesday that the county commissioners will appeal a decision from the state Office of Open Records regarding what information the county must provide about 911 dispatches. Read More...

The York City School Board voted 5-4 to pull the receipts for expenditures during an April trip to San Diego for further review. The board was made aware of how the money was spent on the trip because of a Daily Record/Sunday News article, written after he receipts were obtained through a Right-to-Know request. Read More...

Four York City School Board members spent about $2,000, mostly on food and cabs, at a seminar in California last month -- and that sum does not include air fare, hotels, conference fees and a fifth board member's expenses, according to receipts for the expenditures obtained through a Right to Know request. Read More...

Q: The township supervisors do not hold office hours during the work day and work other full time jobs. I’d like to call them at home at a reasonable time. Can I get their home phone numbers via a Right to Know Law request? Read More...

EAST STROUDSBURG — One resident of East Stroudsburg Area School District wanted to see the internal investigation into how the district sold a classroom trailer on eBay for $1. An aspiring school board member for that district requested all the correspondence between administrators and board members from this year. A sitting board member asked to receive complete copies of legal bills.

These are some of the requests that reflect a flurry of activity sparked by the state's newly robust Right to Know Law. Since the beginning of the year, requests have been peppering the area's four school districts. Read More...

Q: Can agencies withhold documents until my check clears and its financial department gives the go ahead? Read More...

The City of Harrisburg's web site will soon include the day's police blotter that will likely include basic information already available to the public, such as the time and place of the incident, name of the arrested and the charges filed. Read More...

A state open records request has York Township looking into options for how e-mails are received and sent by its commissioners, because some e-mails may be in a private company's files and are not open to public review. Read More...

If state residents want to know if their local fire companies, police departments and EMS agencies are responding promptly to emergencies, Pennsylvania's new Right-to-Know law gives them the right. Residents can request time response logs from their county 911 center, which would help them determine if agencies arrived in a timely fashion, officials say. But that's not the case in York County, because of how the county defines a time response log. Read More...

Q: If I want a document from a local agency, do I have to make a Right to Know request? Read More...

Pennsylvania's updated open records law was supposed to start an era of transparency Jan. 1, but it has raised troubling issues along the way. Read More...

York Township Commissioner Paul Knepper seems to have gone on a paternalistic rampage at last week's meeting. At one point Tuesday, he held up an Alcoholics Anonymous book to chastise a proposal that would allow alcohol to be served at the refurbished Queensgate cinema. At another point, he proposed shaming people who ask the township for public documents by posting their names on the municipality's Web site. Read More...

A York Township commissioner presented a plan during the board of commissioners' meeting Tuesday night that would allow the township to publish the names of people who make Right-to-Know requests. Read More...

A seismic shift in open government rocked the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at midnight on Jan. 1, 2009, and I am happy to report that the Keystone State has not yet crumbled, or even cracked, because of it. Read More...

It used to be that when you wanted a copy of a civil lawsuit filed in Lancaster County, you shelled out a few bucks at the courthouse and walked away with a stack of papers. The county prothonotary's office now provides those records for free in digital form. And by the end of the year, most will be online. Read More...

For some Radnor residents, the controversy surrounding the township manager and his salary bonuses wasn't as troubling as the widespread news coverage. Unaccustomed in many ways to the glare of publicity, they are questioning how open township business should really be. Read More...

The York Daily Record/Sunday News asked Kim de Bourbon, executive director of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition, some questions about the state's new open records law, which is 2½ months old. Read More...

In a victory for open government, Chalfont Council decided Tuesday to continue recording its meetings. That means civic-minded citizens can stay involved by asking for copies of meeting tapes, which they can listen to at home instead of watching re-runs one night. Read More...

One of the most frequent questions to our legal hotline is, "What records should I be able to get from the state or local police?" Read More...

Q: Are settlement agreements public? Can an agency rely upon a confidentiality clause in a settlement agreement to deny access? Read More...

Yesterday, we wrote about some of the early decisions of the Office of Open Records (OOR). We are continuing that discussion today, raising some of our questions and concerns about the first group of decisions. Read More...

After reviewing the first “Final Determinations” issued by the Office of Open Records (OOR), we see some lessons in them for requesters and agencies. Not surprisingly, the decisions also raise some questions and concerns. Here are our thoughts on the first round of decisions. Read More...

Radnor Township's Board of Commissioners voted unanimously last night to suspend Bashore and request his resignation after the recent discovery that he had distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses - $141,500 for himself - then allegedly attempted to cover his trail by falsifying financial documents. Read More...

Q: Am I entitled to copies of the W-2s of public employees? I want to determine the total income they are receiving. Read More...

Imagine a job that includes a six-figure salary, a generous benefits package, an interest-free loan for a new house, an SUV for personal use and the ability to award yourself no-questions-asked bonuses every year. Welcome to Dave Bashore's world. Bashore's contract and other previously undisclosed documents were pried loose in recent months by residents who filed records requests under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law, which was strengthened this year. Read More...

Every community has one: the gadfly, the complainer, the curmudgeon. They are there to keep local government honest, with help from the state's new Right to Know Law that took effect in January. But some municipalities are starting to complain that the law is miring them in paper work and creating logistical and financial headaches. Read More...

Early evidence shows Pennsylvania's new Right to Know Law is doing what it's designed to, giving the public more access to records that show how governments are behaving and spending tax money. Read More...

The Office of Open Records denied a borough resident's request for records of inspections of two privately owned properties. The office also rejected an appeal from Quakertown School District Read More...

The new state Office of Open Records ruled on six appeals, offering access to government employee dates of birth, names of government contractor employees and school board committee reports. Read More...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Names of employees of government contractors and birth dates of government employees are public information, the state Office of Open Records has ruled in some of the first appeals under Pennsylvania's new Right-to-Know Law. Read More...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Appeals officers for both chambers of the Pennsylvania Legislature said Tuesday the new Right-to-Know Law does not give the public the right to review correspondence between lawmakers and lobbyists. Read More...

The ruling is in. You're entitled to listen to tapes of your elected officials' public meetings. But ask quickly, because those tapes don't have to be kept for long. Read More...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP, Feb. 20) – Pennsylvania's open-records chief says audio recordings of government meetings are public records that must be provided to people who request them. Read More...

The Office of Open Records has issued an Advisory Opinion stating that tape recordings made by a board secretary for the purpose of writing minutes are to be considered public record. Read More...

The Radnor Township School District has released two sets of documents that it has maintained for nearly two years were not public records. Read More...

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board canceled an investigation of its own employees over suspected press leaks the same day The Morning Call formally asked about it. Read More...

One reason state lawmakers dragged their feet for so long in updating Pennsylvania's weak open records law was because they thought most voters didn't really care much about easy access to government documents. Read More...

The state Office of Open Records sent a letter to Shrewsbury Township regarding an open record appeal filed by a resident. Read More...

The Radnor Township School District has released two sets of documents that it has maintained for nearly two years were not public records. Read More...

Q: We requested and received cell phone records from a township in November of 2008. We recently received a letter from the township solicitor requesting that we return the cell phone records so that telephone numbers can be redacted in accordance with the new Right to Know Law and the recent Supreme Court case of Tribune Review Publishing v. Bodack. Do we have to return the cell phone records for redaction? Read More...

Auditor General Jack Wagner is accusing Gov. Ed Rendell's administration of hiding the details of nearly $600 million in technology contracts with one company and is suggesting abuses ranging from vendor favoritism to no-bid contracts. Read More...

Representatives of the state auditor general's office said they found the Rendell administration's commitment to government transparency lacking when they sought records about information-technology contracts awarded to Deloitte Consulting from 2004 through 2007.
Read More...

When Linda and Kurt Kurzmiller arrived Jan. 15 at the state's new open records office in Harrisburg, it was still under construction. Workers were filing in and out of the North Street building. There wasn't a sign outside to direct them where to go. But they made it to the office. Read More...

When Michael J. Cavanagh submitted his public records request to the Uniontown City Council, he did so with the understanding that the office would respond to the inquiry within five business days. It didn't. Read More...

At Annville-Cleona School District the board members decided to extend the budget discussion beyond that table and at the same time perhaps do away with the Monday morning quarterbacking that residents are sometimes forced to do after the vote on a final spending plan. Board members are asking the public to take a hard look at the budget, which it posted at the administrative building. The board said it wanted to get thoughts from residents on the spending plan, and as one director put it, "to help us ax it." Read More...

As we trudge toward the end of January, many of our New Year's resolutions already have been broken. But state Senate Republicans last week revived their efforts to change the old habits of the Legislature. Read More...

For now, Chalfont Borough Council will continue recording its meetings. Read More...

If you're an advocate of open government, you'll want to attend Tuesday's council meeting in Chalfont, central Bucks County. Read More...

Should you walk into York's City Hall and glimpse a new sign that refers to the revamped Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law, pay attention to the wording that mentions the availability of police records. Read More...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP, Dec. 22) - Pennsylvania's highest court says a newspaper cannot obtain all the information in the cell phone records of two Pittsburgh City Council members. Read More...

Those municipalities and school districts that habitually make it difficult for citizens to obtain information about their taxpayer-supported enterprises face a day of reckoning on Jan. 1. That's when a new Right-to-Know Law takes effect, with this fundamental change: All records will be considered public documents unless specifically exempted. Read More...

HARRISBURG — People seeking most government records will soon pay no more than 25 cents a page under a new state policy. The fee system, set by the newly created Office of Open Records, will apply to all state agencies and municipal governments when the state's Right to Know Law takes effect Jan. 1. Read More...

HARRISBURG (AP) — Starting next year, citizens seeking copies of most public records in Pennsylvania won't be charged more than a quarter a page, under an order that the state's open-records chief plans to issue Monday.
Read More...

Open government and transparency are the types of issues that people from all areas of the political spectrum can unite behind and support. Because when a governmental body like the Radnor Township School Board makes a decision, as many of my great elementary school teachers from Radnor stressed to me when I was a student, it is critical that they show their work. Read More...

By SEAN ADKINS
[York] Daily Record/Sunday News

A revamped Pennsylvania Right to Know Law does not call for a state agency to be penalized should it opt not to hand over contracts that would have otherwise been included in a new online public database.

State agencies are responsible for providing the information for the online database maintained by the Pennsylvania Treasury Department.

However, the department would not take any action against a state agency that does not file a contract.

And the Right to Know Law doesn't allow for a fine or any action against the state agency for not submitting most contracts to the database.

But, the Right to Know Law does state that most contracts need to be filed with the treasury department within 10 days of a document's execution date to be posted online.

"It's almost like a self-policing type of thing," Elizabeth Kupchinsky, a treasury spokeswoman, said. "If an agency does fail to submit a contract, a member of the public can file a Right to Know request with that agency (to acquire a contract)."

A method of challenge should exist if an agency ignores the law and doesn't submit a contract to be posted online, said Melissa Melewsky, media law council with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

"I certainly think we would have liked to have seen some teeth with this provision," she said. "But this is a law, and the law has to be followed."

New information online

On July 22, the treasury department unveiled the searchable online database that allows a public search through state contracts by entering criteria such as the name of the agency, grant amount or topic.

The database is not novel in that residents suddenly have access to never-before-released data, but rather now the public can view those contracts more quickly.

The money used to fund these state contracts comes from state taxes, fees and other charges, said Pennsylvania Treasurer Robin L. Weissmann.

"The whole point (for the Web site) is for people to know how their tax dollars are being spent," said Don Houser, chief of staff for Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre County.

Corman drafted a Senate bill in June 2007 that called for an online contracts database.

Before the creation of the online database, individuals needed to make a formal request with an agency to gain access to a specific contract, Houser said.

"It was a cumbersome process," he said.

Now, each agency is bound by the updated Right to Know Law to submit most contracts worth $5,000 or more to the treasury department, where legal documents executed on or after July 1 are posted to its Web site.

For example, the query "Northwest Triangle" turns up an Aug. 22 contract in which the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has agreed to give York's redevelopment authority a $1.05 million grant to remediate the downtown site.

The money will be used to clean up the Keystone Color Works building and the soil in York's Northwest Triangle.

About the updated law

On Feb. 14, Gov. Ed Rendell inked a revamped Right-to-Know Law that favors public access to records.

Under this law, state agencies must prove that a record is non-public or that an exemption forbids access.

While most of the provisions in the law take effect on Jan. 1, 2009, the online database went into action last month.

For the most part, the contracts are between state agencies and outside parties, Weissmann said.

Not every contract worth more than $5,000 will find its way to the site.

For example, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts will create a separate Web site for its contracts, Kupchinsky said.

Also, contracts that contain information protected by certain legal principles such as attorney-client privilege are exempt.

Submissions after six weeks

So far, more than 4,600 contracts have been uploaded, Kupchinsky said.

As of Aug. 22, 67 state agencies had submitted contracts while 47 had not, she said.

Houser said to have nearly 60 percent of agencies submitting contracts only six weeks after the launch of the site is a good sign.

"My understanding is that all agencies are moving to comply," said Terry Mutchler, executive director of Pennsylvania's new Office of Open Records.

"It is incumbent for public bodies to comply with this (law)," Mutchler said.

Agencies that have not submitted contracts might have not done so because that bureau might not have executed a deal on or after July 1, Kupchinsky said.

Melewsky said she believes state agencies will submit their contracts to be posted to the treasury department's Web site.

"There is no way to know for sure if all the contracts are up there," she said. "I think there has to be some level of trust in the government. I hope it won't be an issue. I think the state agencies will follow suit. I don't predict a problem," Melewsky said.

Houser said it's in the best interest of the state for the agencies to comply.

"We are in a nature of open records here in Pennsylvania," Houser said. "If agencies are not going to comply with this, shame on them."

AT A GLANCE

• The database: On July 22, the Pennsylvania Treasury Department launched a free online database of state contracts that allows site visitors to review the documents that had been previously available through formal requests.
• The contracts: According to Pennsylvania's updated Right to Know Law, state agencies have 10 days to file their contracts with treasury department. The department then posts the information to its site. Contracts uploaded to the treasury department's site are worth more than $5,000 and have been executed on or after July 1. So far, state agencies have posted more than 4,600 contracts to the site.
• What we found: The Right to Know Law doesn't include a provision to penalize an agency for not filing a contract with the treasury department to be posted online.
• On the Web: To use the database, go to http://contracts.patreasury.org/search.aspx. Once at the site, you can search by agency, contracting party, date or the amount of the contract.