Christopher Voltz on Records Request

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

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

7/22/2024 / Anonymization , FOIA , Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , School Boards , State and Local Government

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

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

10/18/2023 / Municipalities , Open Records , Public Agencies , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

Commonwealth Court Establishes New Test to Determine if Social Media Posts Are Subject to a Rtkl Request

Penncrest School District. v. Cagle, 293 A.3d 783 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2023). The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania establishes a three-part test that must be used to determine if an individual’s social media post is a record of an...more

9/21/2023 / Facebook , LGBTQ , Multi-Factor Test , Public Officials , Public Schools , Records Request , Right To Know , School Boards , Social Media

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

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

6/17/2022 / Email , Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , School Boards , School Districts , State and Local Government

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

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

1/13/2021 / Inventory , Law Enforcement , Open Records , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

OOR Updates RTKL Fee Schedule

Section 1307 of the Right-To-Know Law requires the Office of Open Records (“OOR”) to establish a fee schedule for Commonwealth agencies and local agencies like municipalities and school districts. On December 22, 2020, the...more

1/7/2021 / Municipalities , Open Records , Processing Fees , Records Request , Right To Know , School Districts

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

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

12/29/2020 / Anonymity , Open Records , Public Agencies , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

OOR Continues to Hold that Names and Home Addresses Are Protected by the Constitutional Right to Privacy, but that Tax Map Parcel...

In Rosner v. Buckingham Township, AP 2020-1364 (“Rosner II”), the Township redacted residents’ names, home addresses, and tax map parcel I.D. numbers from the requested invoices setting forth charges to residents under the...more

12/24/2020 / Open Records , Personal Information , Property Owners , Public Records , Records Request , Right to Privacy , State and Local Government

OOR Holds that Individual Names and Addresses contained in Stormwater Management Agreements and Grant of Easement Agreements Are...

In Rosner v. Buckingham Township, AP 2020-0623 (“Rosner I”), the request sought Stormwater Management Agreements and Grant of Easement Agreements relating to certain properties within the Township. The Township redacted the...more

12/16/2020 / Land-Use Permits , Open Records , PA Supreme Court , Personal Information , Public Records , Records Request , Redacted Documents , Right to Privacy , Stormwater Discharge Permits

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

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

12/8/2020 / Facebook , Open Records , Public Agencies , Public Officials , Records Request , Right To Know , Social Networks , State and Local Government , Twitter

OOR Rules that Police Investigative Report is Exempt in its Entirety

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

10/27/2020 / Criminal Investigations , Exemptions , Law Enforcement , Open Records , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

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

3/2/2020 / Law Enforcement , Open Records , Records Request , Right To Know , School Districts , State and Local Government , Video Recordings

OOR Explains Duty to Provide 911 Records

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

1/15/2020 / 911 Calls , Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Redaction , Right To Know , State and Local Government

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

1/8/2020 / Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

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

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

12/17/2019 / Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

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

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

11/12/2019 / Confidential Information , Email , Open Records , Public Records , Public Schools , Records Request , Right To Know , School Boards , State and Local Government

OOR Confirms that Requests for “Updates” are Not Proper Under the RTKL

In Frederick v. Caln Township Police Department, AP 2019-1059 (Aug. 1, 2019), the requester sought an update on his case against another individual by submitting a RTKL request to the police department (“Department”). ...more

10/28/2019 / Criminal Investigations , Law Enforcement , Open Records , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

OOR Determines that Emails from Members of the Public to an Agency are Records “of” the Agency

In Ruland v. Southern York County School District, AP 2019-0567 (Aug. 8, 2019), the OOR concluded that, in certain circumstances, emails from community members to an agency can be public records. In this case, the...more

9/24/2019 / Email , Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , School Districts , State and Local Government

OOR Determines that Records Submitted to the OOR are not Records “of” the OOR

In Friedman v. Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, AP 2019-1182 (Aug. 28, 2019), the Office of Open Records (“OOR”) discussed whether all records delivered to and in the possession of an agency are records “of” that agency...more

9/9/2019 / Open Records , Public Records , Public Utilities Commission , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

Commonwealth Court Establishes Test to Determine Whether Volunteer Fire Companies are Subject to the RTKL

An entity must be a Commonwealth agency, a local agency, a judicial agency or a legislative agency to be subject to the RTKL. 65 P.S. § 67.302. In Pysher v. Clinton Township Vol. Fire Co., 1237 C.D. 2017, 2019 WL 2017782, at...more

8/28/2019 / Fire Departments , Government Entities , Multi-Factor Test , Nonprofits , Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government , Volunteers

OOR Provides Guidance as to when Requests for Emails are Insufficiently Specific

We’ve addressed whether RTKL request are sufficiently specific before, but it’s worth reexamining the issue again in the context of requests for electronic correspondence because requesters frequently make broad requests for...more

8/19/2019 / Electronic Communications , Email , Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

Agencies Are Not Required to Identify Which Records are Responsive to Each Part of a Request (901)

When responding to large requests, Open Records Officer frequently identify records that are responsive to one part of a request but not another. Does the response letter need to identify which records are responsive to each...more

8/5/2019 / Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

OOR Holds that Zoning Permit Application is not Exempt under the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code

The 30 exceptions set forth in Section 708(b) of RTKL are not an exhaustive list of records that can or must be withheld from disclosure under the RTKL. Instead, Section 102 of the RTKL contains a catch-all, stating that any...more

7/2/2019 / Building Permits , Municipalities , Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , State and Local Government

ORR Holds that Records Documenting the Locations of Gunshot Sensors in the Possession of a Third Party are Public Records

Last week, we discussed a case where the OOR found that certain records in the possession of a third party were beyond the scope of Section 506(d)(1) of the RTKL. This week, we’ll discuss a case where the OOR concluded...more

6/18/2019 / Open Records , Public Records , Records Request , Right To Know , Third-Party

Statements of Financial Interest Cannot be Redacted (Section 306; Ethics Act)

In Guydish v. Crestwood School District, AP 2019-0643, the requester sought copies of the statements of financial interests filed by the school district’s current school board members pursuant to the Public Official and...more

5/21/2019 / Ethics , Open Records , Personally Identifiable Information , Public Officials , Records Request , Redaction , Right To Know , School Districts , State and Local Government

Christopher Voltz

Tucker Arensberg, P.C.

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