Open Records

OOR ADVISORY FOR STATE EMPLOYEES

It is important for every state employee to understand what is happening in this Right to Know appeal of Simon Campbell v. Governor’s Office of Administration, OOR Docket # AP 2013-0859, and to understand their rights as third-parties in this matter.

FIRST, NO INFORMATION HAS YET BEEN RELEASED, AND THE OFFICE OF OPEN RECORDS HAS NOT ORDERED RELEASE OF ANY INFORMATION IN THIS CASE. AN EXTENSION HAS BEEN GRANTED AND NO FINAL ACTION WILL BE TAKEN UNTIL AT LEAST JULY 15, 2013.

Here’s what happened, and here is some information that will be important to you if you decide you wish to personally participate in this matter.

Simon Campbell, of Stop Teacher’s Strikes, filed a Right to Know request with the Governor’s Office of Administration (“OA”). He asked for very specific information about state employees outlined at the bottom of this email. The Governor’s Office of Administration thoroughly examined the request and denied Mr. Campbell’s appeal. In short, they said the records aren’t public and, on your behalf, refused to release them.

As is his right, the requester appealed to the Office of Open Records, a quasi-judicial agency that considers appeals when an agency denies release of information.

On appeal, the Governor’s Office of Administration has the burden of proving that it properly withheld the information from public disclosure. It is vigorously defending the appeal on behalf of all employees.

OA is defending your rights as a whole group. However, if any one person wants to intervene in the process individually each person can do that. The OOR had been required to issue a decision by June 13, 2013. An extension has been granted by the Mr. Campbell and the OOR now plans to issue a decision on or before July 15, 2013. If you want to intervene, you must request permission by 5:00 on Friday, June 7, 2013 and send a copy of your request to OA and Mr. Campbell.

The Right-to-Know Law permits persons with a direct interest (that’s each of you) to seek to participate in appeals. However, the OOR may limit evidence that is cumulative, meaning if everybody says the same thing we only accept a certain amount of duplicative evidence.

If you want to submit information that details specific personal bases for withholding information, you can do that along with arguments supporting your position.

Here’s what Mr. Campbell wants to know about you on appeal:

1. The names of all employees under the jurisdiction of the Governor who had political committee contributions deducted and remitted from their paychecks in 2012, and the total amount of political committee contributions processed via payroll deduction for each employee in 2012.

2. The total amount of money received in 2012 by all agencies under the jurisdiction of the Governor to reimburse the government for the cost of collecting and remitting political committee contributions.

3. For all employees under the jurisdiction of the Governor the total amount of Union dues collected and remitted via payroll deduction in 2012.

Keep in mind that both OA and the OOR are working very hard to ensure that any of your non-public information is protected from release.

With respect to direct interest requests, section 1101(c)(3) of the Right-to-Know Law requires that “Copies of the written request shall be sent to the agency and the requester.” Any employee who wishes to participate must send a request to the following by June 7, 2013:

Final Request to Participate - pdf

Request to File In Camera - pdf

Appeals Officer Contact Information: Angela Eveler, Esquire

400 North Street, 4th Floor

Harrisburg, PA 17120-0225

(717) 346-9903

(717) 425-5343

RA-OORFile@pa.gov

Governor’s Office of Administration Contact Information:

ra-rtkl_appeal_box@pa.gov (preferred)

RTKL Appeal 2013-0859
Governor's Office of Administration
221 Finance Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Requester Contact Information: Simon Campbell

scampbell@stopteacherstrikes.org

Home Address Advisory - Supreme Court Injunction

To view the 2012 Office of Open Records Annual Training courtesy of PCN, click here.

Mission Statement

"The Mission of the Office of Open Records is to enforce the state’s Right-to-Know law and to serve as a resource for citizens, public officials and members of the media in obtaining public records of their government."

A Message from the Executive Director

Ensuring open and honest government is a bedrock principle of democracy. It can only be attained through the unfettered exchange of information between citizens and their government. A citizen’s right-to-know, sometimes known as freedom of information, fosters accountability, prevents abuses of power and promotes trust in government. Pennsylvania has codified this important right to access government records in Act 3 of 2008, called the Right-to-Know law.

The Right-To-Know law fundamentally changed the way people access public records of their government. The hallmark of this law, which took effect January 1, 2009, is its presumption of openness. For the first time in Pennsylvania history, citizens no longer have to prove that a record is public and that it should be released. Now, a government agency must presume that a record is a public record available for inspection or copying. If the government agency chooses to withhold a record, the agency has the burden to prove – with legal citation – why that record should not be available to the public.

The law, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, also established a quasi-judicial tribunal, the Office of Open Records. The mission of the Office of Open Records is to implement and enforce the Right-to-Know law and to serve as a resource to citizens, public officials, and members of the media.

The Office of Open records has decided over 6,000 appeals since 2009. It has also answered tens of thousands of citizen e-mails and phone calls. It is my great privilege to serve as the Commonwealth’s first Executive Director of this independent agency. You have my pledge that I will continue to work tirelessly to ensure compliance with the law and to help citizens, government officials, and members of the media better understand their rights and obligations.

I encourage you to look through our website where you will find regularly updated information about the law and a schedule of on-going trainings regarding this law. I will always welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions to improve access to government because I believe that this government does not belong to me, or to any other public official, but rather this government belongs to you.

Terry Mutchler