2019 was the second-busiest year ever for the Office of Open Records. That’s one of the facts included in the OOR’s newly released 2019 Annual Report.
The OOR is required to “annually report on its activities and findings to the Governor and the General Assembly” (Section 1310(a)(9) of the Right-to-Know Law). Typically, the annual report is released during Sunshine Week in early March. This year, issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the release for about a month, but here’s our 2019 Annual Report:
Highlights from the report include:
- 2,658 appeals were filed in 2019, making it the second-busiest year on record.
- The current three-year average is 2,440 appeals; the current five-year average is 2,470.
- More than half (51.6%) of the appeals docketed in 2019 were filed by everyday citizens.
- About 75% of the appeals filed in 2019 involved local agencies.
- The OOR conducted 105 mediations in 2019.
- The OOR led or participated in 88 training sessions in 2019.
- The OOR responded to 1,006 RTKL requests in 2019 (a record high), although the vast majority were misdirected.
Previous annual reports are available here.
Open Records in Pennsylvania 