The Pennsylvania Right to Know Act, often confused with the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of governmental bodies in Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act legislates the methods by which public meetings are conducted.

Prior to 2008, the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act made it difficult for citizens to obtain records, partly because the pre-2008 law presumed that government records were not public, unless someone who wanted the record could establish otherwise. A new law passed by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Ed Rendell “flipped the presumption”. This new law went into full effect on January 1, 2009 and it states, in sharp distinction to the previous law, that all documents will be presumed to be open to the public unless the agency holding them can prove otherwise.

While the new version of the RTKL makes it less difficult to obtain public records, it has also provided some citizens the ability to abuse the intent of the law. Since no limitation exists on the amount of requests that can be submitted by an individual or entity, small communities with limited staff and resources are burdened with providing reams of paperwork to a person seeking to harass a governing body, or providing printed documents to those who are simply on a fishing expedition for political, or self-serving reasons.

The nominal charge of 25 cents per copy of each standard page document provided to the requester does not come close to covering the actual costs of  a legal review, staff being diverted from their normal duties to search for the requested documents, redacting any private information that may be found within the document, and other expenses that may be incurred.

West Easton, like other small communities throughout the country, has been subjected to the enormous expense of an individual routinely submitting RTKL requests. In a period of approximately 1 year, a single resident has inundated West Easton with more than 140 RTKL’s that has cost its’ taxpayers over $10,000 in legal fees. These expenses can not be anticipated into a budget, but are ultimately passed onto the taxpayer.

For a better understanding of the RTKL fee structure, you can download it HERE.

However, there may be times when an RTKL is necessary when all verbal requests are ignored. Should you feel West Easton isn’t cooperating in turning over public documents when requested verbally, or is stalling you for some unknown reason in providing you simple documentation that should be available (approved meeting minutes, blank applications for permits, etc.) you can download a RTKL Request form HERE.