Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law gives the Office of Open Records the duty to “develop a uniform [request] form which shall be accepted by all Commonwealth and local agencies” (Section 505(a)).
The OOR’s standard Right-to-Know request form hasn’t been updated since 2013. We’re now in the process of reviewing and updating the form — with the goal of improving it by making it better for both requesters and agencies.
Previous version of the form can be found here:
- Pennsylvania Bulletin (December 13, 2008), pages 6830-6831
- Pennsylvania Bulletin (April 23, 2011), pages 2189-2190
- Pennsylvania Bulletin (October 12, 2013), pages 6082-6083
(Here’s a direct link to download a PDF of the current version.)
If you have any thoughts or suggestions on how to improve the standard RTK request form, please share them with us. We’d love to hear from you.
(In addition to the OOR’s contact form, feel free to leave comments on this blog or on Twitter.)
Open Records in Pennsylvania 
Hi, Erik. I just wanted to clarify your statement that the OOR request form “has not changed since the office opened in January 2009.” If you look at the Pennsylvania Bulletin, you’ll notice that the form was changed or updated in 2011 and twice in 2013. Of course, I agree that the form could use an update, and I just wanted to make sure accurate information is being disseminated. Thanks and have a happy holiday.
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Chad, thank you. I’ve updated the post and added links to the editions of the Pennsylvania Bulletin which include the original version, the 2011 update, and one of the 2013 updates. I couldn’t find the second 2013 update — do you happen to know what edition of the Bulletin that was in?
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Are comments re updating the form still open and is there a cut off date?
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Peter, I apologize for not responding sooner. (I thought I had, but I can find no evidence of that.) Yes, we would love to hear your comments. There is no official cut-off date, but my current expectation is that a new form will be available by the end of 2017. Thank you.
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