News & Analysis as of

State and Local Government Right To Know

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

What a Municipality Should Know Before Saying “No Records Exist” When Responding to a Right-to-Know Law Request

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Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law (“RTKL”) provides access to public records and promotes transparency in our Commonwealth. A record in the possession of a government agency is presumed to be public unless the record is...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

Office of Open Records Holds That Certain Records of a Booster Group Are Not Records of the School District

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Lowry v. Rose Tree Media School District, AP 2024-2478 (Dec. 5, 2024). The Office of Open Records holds that registration forms for a cross-country meet that was organized and run by a booster group on school district...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR (Office of Open Records) Holds that “Frank Curry” FOIA Buddy Requests Can Be Denied for Being Anonymous

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

In Frank Curry and FOIABuddy v. South Western School District, AP 2024-1311, a school district (“District”) received a request for records related to IT operations, contracts, staff, and IT budget from Frank Curry and...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

Commonwealth Court Holds that OOR Erred in Not Allowing Agency an Opportunity to Review Responsive Records for Exemptions after...

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

In Pa. Office of the Governor v. Brelje, 2024 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 65, at *1 (Commw. Ct. Feb. 23, 2024), the Office of Open Records (“OOR”) concluded that requests for all incoming and outgoing email for two agency employees over...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Confirms that Local Agencies Can Provide Responsive Records in PDF Format

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

In Forrest v. Erie City, AP 2023-1701 (Sept. 28, 2023), Erie City responded to a request for a list of all rental properties registered and licensed in the City in an Excel spreadsheet by providing a PDF conversion of the...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

Commonwealth Court Holds that the Failure to Identify a Transaction or Activity of an Agency in a Request for Records Under the...

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

Methacton Sch. Dist. v. Off. of Open Records of Cmmw., 250 C.D. 2021, 2021 WL 6122163, at *1 (Pa. Cmmw. Dec. 28, 2021). The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania holds that a request for the emails of four individuals over a...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Understanding the Right to Know Law and Why Certain Documents May be Protected

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

You may notice water being diverted from a neighboring property onto your property. Or, perhaps you have concerns that the property located above yours seems to be shifting, and you fear a landslide....more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

What Every School Board Member Should Know Before Using Social Media

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

As an elected school board member, you are looked to as a community leader and are expected to take a leadership role in representing your school district’s interests. In fulfilling this role, many school board members...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Holds that Police Departments Are Not Required to Disclose their Inventory of Weapons and Tactical Equipment

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In Scott v West Chester Borough Police Department, AP 2020-1987, the Department denied a request for records identifying the weapons and other equipment possessed by the Department. The request sought documentation that...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Confirms that Local Agencies are not Required to Respond to Anonymous RTKL Requests

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

In Anonymous v. Norristown Municipality, AP 2020-2496, the Municipality received a request for records about a police officer from a Requester identified only as “E3E3” that was sent from admin@e3e3.com. The Municipality...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Rules that Elected Official’s Social Media Accounts are Records of the Agency

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In Schultz v. Montgomery County, AP 2020-1280, the Requester sought records related to a County Commissioner’s social media accounts, including sent and received Twitter Direct Messages and private Facebook messages, all...more

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider

Sensitive Personal Information – What Is It and What Does It Mean for California Privacy Rights Act Compliance?

The California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) expands the definition of personal information as it currently exists in the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The CPRA adds “sensitive personal information” as a defined term,...more

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

California Passes Prop 24 to Amend and Expand Consumers’ Privacy Rights

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) created groundbreaking new rules for how businesses must handle California consumers’ personal data and spurred proposals for similar legislation across the country. ...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Rules that Police Investigative Report is Exempt in its Entirety

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In Weik v. Pennsylvania State Police, AP 2020-1139 (October 6, 2020), the Requester sought records related to a fatal police shooting. The State Police identified a responsive Incident Report, but denied the request, arguing,...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Philadelphia Zoning, Land Use, and Construction COVID-19 Update - September 2020

Ballard Spahr LLP on

The Ballard Spahr Zoning and Land Use Team is continuing to monitor all aspects of the Philadelphia land use approval process during the COVID-19 emergency, including the issuance of zoning and building permits, regulation of...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Announces Possible Changes to the RTKL and Sunshine Act

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

On July 15, 2020, the OOR stated the following in an email: Two bills related to the Right-to-Know Law and one related to the Sunshine Act have been advancing in the General Assembly. House Bill 1780 would clarify that...more

Franczek P.C.

Illinois Supreme Court Agrees with City of Chicago regarding Destruction of Police Officer Misconduct Records

Franczek P.C. on

In a decision applauded by citizens of the City of Chicago and its leadership, the Illinois Supreme Court found that a provision in the collective bargaining agreement between the Fraternal Order of Police, Chicago Lodge No....more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

California Supreme Court: Government Cannot Charge Fee to Redact Police Body Camera Footage

California Public Records Act Provision Permitting Public Agencies to Charge for “Extraction” Analyzed - Government agencies are prohibited from charging a fee to redact police body camera footage in response to a...more

Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass

We're Getting Closer: AG Releases New Modified CCPA Draft Regulations

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra wasted no time in issuing new modified draft regulations for the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), announcing new draft regulations on March 11, 2020 – just two weeks after...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Begrudgingly Recognizes the Broad Scope of Act 22

In Bradley v. Lehighton Area School District, AP 2019-2068 (Jan. 13, 2019), the OOR confirmed that the scope of videos covered by Act 22 (and, therefore, beyond the reach of the RTKL) is significantly broader than many...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Explains Duty to Provide 911 Records

Tucker Arensberg, P.C. on

In Serfass v. Northampton County, AP 2019-1664 (Nov. 7, 2019), the Requester sought 911 call records.  The County denied the Request, arguing that the responsive records were exempt Section 708(b)(18) of the RTKL, which...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Confirms that Requesters Can Seek the Same Records Twice Under the RTKL

Previously, this blog address how the Office of Open Records, in Steinheiser v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, AP 2019-1877 (Nov. 6, 2019), confirmed that local agencies are not required to provide original...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Confirms that Agencies are Not Required to Provide Original Documents When Responding to RTKL Request

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In Steinheiser v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, AP 2019-1877 (Nov. 6, 2019), the Requester sought the business card of SEPTA’s Open Records Officer.  In response, SEPTA provided a scanned copy of the card. ...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

Record Disclosure Obligations for California Police

BB&K's Christine Wood Gives Updates on AB 748 and SB 1421 in PublicCEO - Now, more than ever, Californians have greater access to police personnel records, body and dashboard camera footage and other recordings acquired by...more

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

OOR Confirms that Records Created or Obtained through the Safe2Say Something Program are Not Public Records

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In Maciejewski v. Southern Columbia Area School District, AP 2019-1094 (Sept 16, 2019), the Request sought all emails between 10 District email addresses over a 14-day time frame.  The District argued that certain responsive...more

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