Sunshine Act
PNA Legal: Quasi-judicial deliberations OK behind closed doors
December 13, 2012
Q: A zoning hearing board heard testimony on a zoning application took public comment and then announced that its members would "meet privately to discuss the application and public comment." After the private discussion, the board voted publicly to approve the application. Can they do that? Read More…
York City Council interviews to be public
October 10, 2012
Interviews to select a fifth York City Council member will be held in public, after the city's previous plan to use private meetings was found to violate the Sunshine Act, officials said. Read More…
PNA Legal: Sunshine Act doesn't allow email deliberation
October 04, 2012
Q: A borough council president emailed co-council members about a budget shortfall and asked for proposed spending cuts and opinions on each proposal. Isn’t this "deliberation," and can elected officials use email to deliberate outside a public meeting? Read More…
PNA Legal: Specific nature of executive session must be announced
September 20, 2012
Q: A borough council routinely holds executive sessions and then announces a generic, one-word reason for holding the private discussion such as “litigation.” Doesn’t the borough council have to provide more than this in describing an executive session? Read More…
PNA Legal: School board votes must be open
August 16, 2012
Q: A school board has been voting using nonspecific language such as, “we vote to approve items 1-10 on the agenda.” The agenda is very generic as well, and our reporter can’t figure out what actions are being taken by the board. Can they do that? Read More…
PNA Legal: Public must be able to comment on agenda items
August 16, 2012
Q: A school board has been voting using nonspecific language such as, “we vote to approve items 1-10 on the agenda.” The agenda is very generic as well, and our reporter can’t figure out what actions are being taken by the board. Can they do that? Read More…
Opinion: Commonwealth Court issues disappointing Sunshine Act opinion
August 12, 2012
In a disappointing decision, the Commonwealth Court held that a series of private meetings did not violate the Sunshine Act. Read More…
Library board could book public comment
August 12, 2012
Silence is to be expected among the book stacks of libraries. But should speaking also be restricted during public meetings of the Bucks County Free Library board? The board is considering new guidelines on public comment during meetings. Read More…
Opinion: For DA Heckler, Sunshine Law is serious business
August 01, 2012
The state Sunshine Law is supposed to guarantee openness in government. It’s been our experience that local officials sometimes ignore the law, carrying out the public’s business in private or operating in ways that leave citizens frustrated and angry. Read More…
Opinion: Open records’ an oxymoron with DEP
July 29, 2012
Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records has denied an appeal by state Rep. Jesse White for the raw data gathered when the state Department of Environmental Protection tested the outside air quality at Cornerstone Care in Smith Township. Read More…
Opinion: So much for more openness from Penn State, trustees
July 27, 2012
Despite proclaiming to embrace a new spirit of openness and transparency, Penn State’s board of trustees reacted to the news of NCAA sanctions by calling a hasty and unannounced closed-door meeting. Read More…
Taxpayers charge that Easton Area School Board broke law, request transparency
July 21, 2012
An online petition accuses the Easton Area School Board of violating open-meetings laws when board members voted to eliminate 17 teachers, an assistant principal and six interventionists without public discussion. Read More…
Opinion: Clinton Township School Board should have been punished for Sunshine Law violations
July 20, 2012
Our thanks to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns III for investigating the Clinton Township School Board for alleged Sunshine Law violations — and more importantly, pointing out that the board was routinely filing falsified minutes and refusing to give the public an idea of what it was discussing in secret. Read More…
PNA Legal: Public comment must be allowed
July 19, 2012
Q: Can a township’s public comment policy prohibit the public from commenting on matters that are not on the agenda and from asking questions during open meetings? Read More…
PNA Legal: Sunshine Act penalties infrequent
June 28, 2012
Q: Our newspaper would like to pursue legal action against a local agency for Sunshine Act violations. Are there civil or criminal penalties for violating the act?
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PNA Legal: No time limit for executive sessions
May 17, 2012
Q: A school board routinely calls lengthy executive sessions, sometimes a few hours long, in the middle of public meetings. The board does not tell us how long they plan to stay in the executive session and many members of the public leave before the board returns to accept public comment and vote at the end of the meeting. Is there a time limit for executive sessions? Read More…
PNA Legal: No notice needed for reconvened meeting
April 26, 2012
Q: A township advertised a special meeting, but a quorum of supervisors failed to show up at the designated time and place. The supervisors in attendance announced a reconvened meeting date, time and place and posted notice on the township office the next day. Does the Sunshine Act also require the township to place a public notice in the newspaper stating the date, time and place of the reconvened meeting? Read More…
PNA Legal: No personnel exception for layoff talk
April 19, 2012
Q: school board has been discussing budget cuts behind closed doors, claiming the “personnel exception” because potential cuts could result in layoffs. Is that right? Read More…
PNA Legal: No automatic void of action for Sunshine Act violation
March 01, 2012
Q: A borough held an unadvertised special meeting and voted to create a contract during the meeting. Does Sunshine Act automatically void the contract because the meeting was not properly advertised? Read More…
PNA Legal: Charter schools under RTK, Sunshine Act
February 23, 2012
Q: Are charter schools and cyber charter schools subject to the Right to Know Law and Sunshine Act?
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