From Law 360: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it would review a Commonwealth Court finding interpreting the state's Sunshine Law to conclude that a state agency did not engage in “deliberation” behind closed doors when it reached a final decision at a later time.
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Tag: pennsylvania transparency
Pa. transparency earns temperate grade in Sunshine Week report
From Patch.com:
HARRISBURG – If the commonwealth were an elementary school student, we’re not sure if its mother would put this grade on the refrigerator. But in national context, Pennsylvania’s legislative transparency is pretty much on the curve.
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NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for December 21, 2012
A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week:
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State of open data in Philly: Read the open government plan, and more on the city’s open data policy progress
Luzerne County has yet to comply with open-records request for emails
From The Citizen’s Voice:
Luzerne County has acknowledged possessing thousands of emails excluded from an open-records release because of an assumption the emails were deleted.
The emails were from Leonard Piazza, the ousted director of elections fired April 11. The county has resisted access to Piazza’s emails since The Citizens’ Voice filed an April 12 request for Piazza’s emails dating back to Nov. 1, 2010.
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Gov. Tom Corbett administration’s records denials called public ‘abuse’
From PennLive.com:
As a gubernatorial candidate, Tom Corbett vowed to provide “an open, transparent, accountable and trustworthy government.” Corbett said he was committed to “100 percent transparency throughout state government.”
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How Open Records law would have stopped sex abuse sooner at Penn State
Opinion from Poynter:
The Freeh report on the Jerry Sandusky Penn State sex abuse scandal makes many recommendations on how the whole rotten mess might be avoided in the future, including transforming the very culture of the university. Sadly, the report fails to recommend a tangible key change that might have exposed the problems and protected children years ago.
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Pennsylvania destroying online court records
From TribLIVE:
PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania has removed millions of public records from a state court system website, and while a statewide newspaper group says that’s a troubling policy shift, an online privacy expert says it’s reasonable.
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Pa. SC: Records for private companies can be public
From Legal Newsline:
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Legal Newsline) – The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that private companies — more specifically, those operating for "public benefit" — can be required to make their records public under the state's Right-to-Know Law.
In particular, the disclosure of any written concessionaire bids is required under the recently revamped law, the Court said in its May 29 ruling.
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Court rules Pa. records requests need not be perfect
From The Beaver County Times:
Public-records requests filed under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law need not cite the law or satisfy other technicalities so long as they include the requester's name and address and enough information for government agencies to identify the records being sought, an appellate court panel ruled Monday.
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