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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The openness of Open Records just became a concern

An IOM editorial:

For half a century, Pennsylvania had an embarrassingly bad open-records policy. The 1957 law held that all government records were closed to the public unless a citizen met the legal burden of explaining why they should be available.

A 2009 law, championed by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, turned this idiocy upside down: It made government records open unless the government could show they were covered by one of a number of exceptions. And it created an Office of Open Records (OOR) for citizens to appeal to when agencies denied their requests. That office has thus far been a staunch advocate for open government, taking a generous view of what records should be made public and helping citizens get them.

But a new court decision, reported in the Inquirer on Monday, threatens to shut the door on open records, at least part way. It forces citizens to jump through hoops in order to get the help of the OOR.

A Commonwealth Court panel has ruled that when a citizen appeals to the OOR, he must now specifically cite and respond to all the grounds for denial that an agency cited when rejecting his request.

So if you request a contract from City Council, and Council says no and cites 11 legal rationales, your appeal to the OOR must include an explanation of why you think Council is wrong on all 11 counts (and if you specifically cite only 10, no records for you).

Basically, you have to do a lot of confusing legal work - and for no reason. The OOR doesn't need amateur help understanding the Right to Know Law. It should be allowed to decide appeals on the merits, rather than technicalities.

The main impact of this ruling will likely be to give agencies a tool for discouraging requests. Don't want to turn over that salary information? Send back a dense denial letter and see if the requester has the energy and wherewithal to respond.

Indeed, the OOR's Terry Mutchler says the decision has already made it more difficult for requesters to get in the door at her office.

To be fair, the court didn't pull this requirement out of thin air. The Right to Know Law says a citizen "shall address any grounds" an agency uses to deny a request. The OOR had been taking a liberal interpretation of that language, but the court now says it can't do that.

Fixing this problem falls to the Legislature. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi has been working on a revision, though he says he's not sure whether he'll address this issue. That's disappointing, since he led the charge for a better Right to Know Law. Pileggi should see that the spirit of the Right to Know Law has been compromised, and open up the doors to the Office of Open Records again.

Find a Citizen's Guide to requesting government records from any government agency in the state of Pennsylvania, at http://openrecords.state.pa.us/

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Posted by Doron Taussig @ 7:15 AM  Permalink | 3 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 9:47 AM, 08/10/2011
    Just a heads up, it's 'Dominic Pileggi,' which you got the second time, not Nicholas, who is apparently a screenwriter.
    -cgw
    — cgwink
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:45 AM, 08/10/2011
    Thanks. Yeah, he wrote "Goodfellas."
    — Doron Taussig
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:04 PM, 08/10/2011
    This is all nonsense, of course. We want you people to jump through hoops like circus animals.

    HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !
    — up-in-smoke


3 comments
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