Right To Know

Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell signed the New Right-To-Know Law (Act 3 of 2008), effective Jan. 1, 2009, fundamentally changing the way people access public records of their government and the way government processes these requests. The new law created the Office of Open Records in Harrisburg, Pa., to help implement and enforce Act 3 of 2008. Terry Mutchler is executive director of the Harrisburg office.

All requests must be specific in nature and no phone requests.

Request can be made by email, U.S. mail, fax and in person. If the request is verbal, you have no appeal protection in reference to the Right-To-Know officer's response. All appeals must be made to the Open Records office in Harrisburg, Pa.

Download and print the Single Tax Office Right-To-Know request form.

The fee structure as established by the Office of Open Records under Section 1307 of the Right-To-Know law is as follows:

Please Also Be Advised:

• Statutory Fees: If a separate statute authorizes an agency to charge a set amount for a certain type of record, the agency may charge no more than that statutory amount. For example, a Recorder of Deeds may charge a copy fee of 50 cents per uncertified page and $1.50 per certified page under 42 P.S. § 21051. Police departments have the authority to charge up to $15 per report for providing a copy of a vehicle accident report. 75 Pa.C.S. §3751 (b)(2). Philadelphia police may charge up to $25 per copy. Id . at (b)(3). State police are authorized to charge “$5 for each copy of the Pennsylvania State Police full report of investigation.” 75 Pa.C.S. §1956(b).
• Inspection of Redacted Records:  If a requester wishes to inspect rather than receive a copy of a record and the record contains both public and non-public information, the agency shall redact the non-public information. An agency may not charge the requester for the redaction. However, the Agency   may charge for the copies it must make of the redacted material in order for the requester to view the public record. The fee structure outlined above will apply.  If, after inspecting the records, the requester chooses to obtain the copies, no additional fee may be charged.
• Enhanced Electronic Access :  If an agency offers enhanced electronic access to records in addition to making the records accessible for inspection and duplication by a requester, the agency may establish user fees specifically for the provision of the enhanced electronic access, but only to the extent that the enhanced electronic access is in addition to making the records accessible for inspection and duplication by a requester as required by this Act. The user fees for enhanced electronic access may be a flat rate, a subscription fee for a period of time, a per-transaction fee, a fee based on the cumulative time of system access or any other reasonable method and any combination thereof. The user fees for enhanced electronic access must be reasonable, must be pre-approved by the Office of Open Records and shall not be established with the intent or effect of excluding persons from access to records or duplicates thereof or of creating profit for the agency. Please submit any request to:
  

  Office of Open Records
  400 North Street
  Harrisburg , PA. 17120.

•  Fee Limitations:  Except as otherwise provided by statute, the law states that no other fees may be imposed unless the agency necessarily incurs costs for complying with the request, and such fees must be reasonable. No fee may be imposed for an agency’s review of a record to determine whether the record is a public record, legislative record or financial record subject to access in accordance with this Act. No fee may be charged for searching for or retrieval of documents. An agency may not charge staff time or salary for complying with a RTK request.
• Prepayment:  Prior to granting a request for access in accordance with this Act, an agency may require a requester to prepay an estimate of the fees authorized under this section if the fees required to fulfill the request are expected to exceed $100.
  • Once the request is fulfilled and prepared for release, the Office of Open Records recommends that the agency obtain the cost of the records prior to releasing the records. This recommendation is designed to avoid situations in which the agency provides the records and the requester fails to submit payment.

The following exempt records as defined under section 708 (b) of Act 3 of 2008 are not public records subject to duplication or examination.

1. Result in the loss of funds from Federal or State agencies
2. Jeopardize physical or personal security
3. Imperil the military, homeland security, or threaten public safety or activities
4. Endanger physical security of buildings, infrastructure or computer storage
5. Jeopardize employees’ health information including workers’ compensation or unemployment compensation records
6. Personal information such as employee identification number, Social Security Number, drivers’ license number or home information
7. Personnel documents such as letters of reference, performance rating or grievance materials (until a decision is made based on the latter)
8. Material which details negotiation strategy for collective bargaining agreements
9. Drafts of ordinances, policies or resolutions until they are finally adopted
10. Pre-decisional information/deliberations for proposals or budgets, until presented to a quorum of the local agency
11. Information that discloses a trade secret or other confidential proprietary material
12. Personal notes for public official’s own use; also includes telephone notes if not used for an official use
13. The identity of a donor, except when the donation is for “the personal benefit of either a public official or agency employee”
14. Unpublished lecture notes, manuscripts, articles or other creative works in progress
15. Academic transcripts (including licensing exams)
16. Police investigative materials, except for the police blotter
17. Reports of non-criminal investigations (this includes complaints)
18. 911 tapes; however response time logs are public
19. DNA and RNA records
20. Autopsy records
21. Draft minutes, until the next regularly scheduled meeting, or minutes from an executive session
22. Real estate appraisals, engineering studies or environmental reports
23. Library circulation records
24. Certain archival records and museum materials
25. Any material that would identify a protected archaeological site or endangerment to any habitat for a threatened animal/plant species, which is not public
26. Any material such as contract bids, construction, etc. until the contract has been awarded
27. A record related to communications between an insurance carriers, administrative service organization or risk office except for contracts
28. The identity of anyone who applies for social services
29. Correspondence between legislator and constituent
30. Records that identity, home address or birth date of a child 17 years or younger