HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania state court ruled unanimously Tuesday that the Office of Open Records has the authority to order a private review of records to decide disputes about access to government documents and information. Read More…

The Commonwealth Court ordered the Senate to disclose the names of clients who received Senate-financed legal services, as well as the descriptions of legal services, in legal invoices. Read More…

The Senate State Government Committee met “off the floor” Wednesday to consider Senate Bill 444, Senator Dominic Pileggi’s Right to Know Law amendment bill. Two amendments were adopted, and the bill was voted out of committee. Read More…

Chartiers Township denied the Observer-Reporter’s Right-to-Know request for a copy of the township’s evacuation plan in the event of an emergency at the MarkWest Energy cryogenic plant on Western Avenue. Read More…

HARRISBURG (AP) - Pennsylvania's main open records law is getting some revisions but the proposed amendments aren't expected to go before lawmakers in the coming months. Read More…

The Senate State Government Committee today unanimously approved legislation that would expand requirements for the four state-related universities under the state Open Records. The proposed legislation would apply to the University of Pittsburgh, Penn State University, Temple University and Lincoln University .The bill now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Read More…

Hempfield School District must open its books to a resident who appealed to Harrisburg for more detailed budget information from the district administration. Read More…

In court filings this week, PPL Electric Utilities Corp. argued the public does not have the right to know about an anonymous tip that came during an October 2011 snowstorm in which some Lehigh Valley residents were left waiting for power to be restored while a PPL crew was diverted to an outage that was not next in line. Read More…

Philadelphia has a new lobbying website that helps make detailed information easier to search, download and reuse. It's a step forward from how this information was previously shared, but there is still room for improvement. Read More…

A Dauphin County judge has ruled Lower Paxton Township and its sewer authority must turn over delinquent sewer account information, including customers' names, which PennLive had requested through the Pennsylvania Right to Know law. Read More…

WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County officials are refusing to release 9-1-1 recordings of dispatchers who sent firefighters to the wrong location during a fatal fire in Mocanaqua earlier this month. A Right-to-Know request from the Press Enterprise seeking the audio recordings was turned down by attorney Shannon Crake Lapsansky, who handles public information requests for the county. Read More…

A coalition of Pennsylvania media and open government advocacy groups, including the Pennsyvlania Freedom of Information Coalition, filed court papers Tuesday arguing that the Public Utility Commission should release documents it relied upon last year to reach a settlement with PPL Utilities over power restoration irregularities after a freak October 2011 snowstorm. Read More…

PITTSBURGH (AP) - The drugs Pennsylvania can use to execute a man who killed three Pittsburgh police officers should be disclosed to the public, however, other aspects of the execution — including who participates and what companies supply the drugs — can be kept secret, the state Office of Open Records has ruled. Read More…

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's open records agency has ruled that the state government must disclose the amounts of donations to political action committees that are taken directly out of public-sector union workers' paychecks, but it does not have to make the donors’ names public. Read More…

How public is public information and how responsive are municipalities and agencies in the Poconos to requests for such material? Depending on who is responding, the answer can range from getting the information right away to replies that can drag on for weeks, a Pocono Record audit found. Read More…

It's an election year in Pennsylvania. Like dandelions in spring, legislators and their challengers will be popping up everywhere. They'll be visiting civic clubs, fraternal organizations, classrooms, parades and debates, asking you to trust them enough to put them in charge. Read More…

Times-Shamrock Communications and nine other media outlets have been granted permission to join a court challenge of the Public Utility Commission's refusal to release documents related to a settlement reached with PPL Utilities over its response to a 2011 snowstorm. Read More…

The Pennsylvania Senate is getting a third crack at its attempt to shield from public view legal bills related to the representation of Democratic caucus employees.
The Commonwealth Court granted the Senate's request for reargument in Levy v. Senate of Pennsylvania, but limited the reargument to the issue of whether client identities are exempt from the Right-to-Know Law's disclosure requirements under the grand-jury secrecy exception. Read More…

A model of open government and transparency Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Financing Authority is not. And given the public-be-damned secrecy under which it steadfastly operates, reasonable people could — and perhaps they should — assume nefarious activity is underfoot. Read More…

HARRISBURG — The Commonwealth Financing Authority spends billions of taxpayer dollars “behind the shadows,” one critic said, with secrecy that includes covering members' communications with black ink to avoid public disclosure. Read More…

HARRISBURG — Lawmakers of both parties on Monday pushed for legislation to establish a minimum standard for retaining emails because an interim attorney general dramatically reduced the time required for keeping emails in the prosecutor's office while sensitive investigations were under way. Read More…

Records from an accounting firm that performs annual audits of the Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit are exempt from the state's Right to Know Law, according to an order issued by a Lackawanna County judge. Read More…

Pittsburgh police commanders scrambled on Thursday to track down records of agreements between officers to work for each other that did not make it to headquarters for review as required, according to a department memo obtained by the Tribune-Review. Read More…

Vowing to protect the public's right to know, Times-Shamrock Communications joined with 11 other media outlets in an unprecedented effort to obtain secret information on a settlement the state Public Utility Commission reached with PPL Utilities regarding the company's response to a 2011 snowstorm. Read More…

In what the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records' executive director called the largest request the agency has decided, the office on Friday ordered the release of home addresses of about 16,000 state employees and retirees to an antiunion group led by a Bucks County activist.
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State Rep. Timothy S. Mahoney said a state police decision this week to release the number of troopers assigned to the Uniontown station provides a “starting point” to determine whether barracks around the state are adequately funded. Read More…

In Pennsylvania, inquiring minds have a right to know. The Right-To-Know (RTK) Law was passed in 2008 and took effect in 2009. The law gives the public the right to ask to see public records and receive an explanation if they can't. The circumstances under which records are not public are laid out in the law. Otherwise, records are open. Read More…

For a second time, Commonwealth Court has ruled that the state Senate cannot withhold the names of employees represented by private lawyers it hires and must give basic descriptions of the services those attorneys provide. Read More…

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has denied a Post-Gazette request for the names of accredited municipal and state police officers, saying state officials wouldn’t be able to reliably redact officers on undercover assignments. Read More…