Many years ago, the Office of Open Records created a flowchart to help explain Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law process to both agencies and requesters.
In response to some suggestions to make the flowchart even more useful, we’re updating it. And we’d love to have your input.
Here are two versions of the flow chart, both in PDF. The current version first, followed by the draft update:
If you have any thoughts you’d like to share, please do! Leave a comment on this blog post, or use the OOR’s comment form.
Open Records in Pennsylvania 
Erik — The new version of the flow chart is so much easier to follow than the old one! One thing that might be helpful to add is the time-frame for when a requester should receive the requested documents after OOR has granted an appeal and/or how long the parties have to decide if they seek a PFR or appeal to court. It always seemed like agencies had 30 days to produce the records or take further action, but maybe that was just true of my cases and isn’t specified in the RTKL. If there’s a standard time, adding those figures would be helpful for not missing the deadline and could help to manage expectations about how long these requests can drag out in some cases. (I feel like that was something I begrudgingly accepted over time when I realized practically no one just grants a request in five days and sends you the information!) Good luck 🙂 –Kari
LikeLike
Hi Kari, thanks for the kind words and the suggestion. Much appreciated!
LikeLike
Pingback: New RTKL Flowchart | Open Records in Pennsylvania