Forging a Career in Open Records Law: On Record PR
The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday issued a ruling that expands the scope of who is responsible for producing public records under the state’s Open Records Act. The court also allowed for records requests to be sent to...more
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
In this episode of On Record PR, Gina Rubel goes on record with Terry Mutchler, Chair of Transparency Law and Public Data Practice at Obermayer, to discuss her trailblazing career helping clients navigate open records law....more
The public will need to wait longer to obtain information about fired police officers and potentially other public employee terminations due to a recent Commonwealth Court ruling. As an exception to an exemption, the...more
Chester Water Authority v. Pennsylvania Dept. of Community and Economic Development, 249 A.3d 1106, 1108 (Pa. 2021), reargument denied (June 17, 2021). Pennsylvania Supreme Court holds that communications between an agency...more
Section 708(b)(10)(i)(A) of the Law, which excepts from the general requirement for disclosure of public records: A record that reflects: The internal, predecisional deliberations of an agency, its members,...more
In a win for open and transparent government in Missouri, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Sunshine Law prohibits public governmental bodies from charging persons who request public records under the...more
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
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
When responding to RTKL requests, Open Records Officers biggest concern is inadvertently disclosing information that could put people in danger. While such records are generally exempt from disclosure, it is the agency’s...more
Pursuant to Section 705 of the RTKL, when responding to a request, “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...more
As previously discussed, records in possession of a local agency are presumed public unless they are exempt under or protected by: 1) the RTKL exceptions set forth in Section 708; 2) other laws; 3) privilege; or 4) judicial...more