Fire and ambulance squads say they don't have the staff or resources to respond to requests for information

By Patrick Lester | Of The [Allentown] Morning Call

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.

The nonprofit groups say they're not equipped to handle burdensome requests for their internal documents and that the law isn't meant for volunteer organizations like theirs.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate agree, and they've responded with legislation that would exempt those organizations from having to respond to records requests. Supporters of an exemption say Pennsylvania residents still would have access to information about how fire and ambulance groups spend money through the local and state government agencies that fund them.

''Volunteer fire companies are not governments. They don't have staffs. They don't have funding. They don't have resources to [do] this work,'' said Thomas L. Savage III, head of the Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute.

Savage said that, in some cases, ''disgruntled'' firefighters or residents have made unreasonable requests.

Melissa Melewsky, a Pennsylvania Newspaper Association attorney, said her group opposes the legislation.

''These organizations perform an essential government function,'' she said. ''With that government function comes a need for accountability.''

She said if the law is reopened in this case, it could lead to a flood of similar exemption requests.

The issue has been heating up since fire and ambulance organizations began getting requests for financial information, meeting minutes, e-mails and other documents after the state's expanded Right to Know Law took effect in January.

The Office of Open Records has said those groups meet the definition of a government agency and that the law applies to them. But a number of state lawmakers have said the office's interpretation is incorrect and have filed a court brief to that effect.

The debate has intensified since a Tioga County judge ruled earlier this month that a fire company's records were not public documents.

One bill approved by the Senate would exempt fire and ambulance organizations by revising a 2003 law that establishes a grant program for such groups. Records related to government funding would be available through the agency that provided it.

Republican Sen. Dominic Pileggi, who sponsored the bill, said the Legislature never intended to have the Right to Know Law applied to fire and ambulance groups.

''They should be subject to the law to the extent they have contracts with government agencies, but otherwise should be treated the same as other nonprofit organizations,'' said Pileggi, who represents parts of Chester and Delaware counties.

Many fire and ambulance organizations' financial forms filed with the Internal Revenue Service are available on the Internet, although in many cases the most recent filings are a year or two old.

Democrat Jim Ferlo, the lone senator to vote against the proposal, said the volunteers should be subject to the law because they are ''heavily subsidized.''

''I saw no urgency to circumvent'' the Right to Know Law, said Ferlo, who represents parts of Allegheny, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties.

Terry Mutchler, executive director of the state's open records office, wrote in a memo that her office ''conceptually'' supports the legislation.

Mutchler's office and some lawmakers prefer that the exemption be made by revising the grant law rather than the Right to Know Law.

A House bill that seeks to change the Right to Know Law has not gotten far. The sponsor, Rep. Matthew Baker, a Tioga County Republican, said it was penned in response to the Tioga County case, in which a man requested documents from the Morris Township Fire Company.

Scott Pierce asked for copies of the fire company's bylaws, meeting minutes and financial records, lists of volunteers who responded to fires over a three-month period and e-mails exchanged between fire company officials and government agencies.

Judge Robert E. Dalton Jr. ruled July 8 that the fire company is not a local agency for the purposes of the Right to Know Law, a ruling that would apply only to organizations in Tioga County.