The following is a statement from Erik Arneson, Executive Director of the Office of Open Records:

House Bill 2463 would require the Office of Open Records to “publish guidelines for a Commonwealth agency specifying how the Commonwealth agency is required to respond to a request for records made during a disaster declaration when the Governor has ordered the Commonwealth agency to close the Commonwealth agency’s physical location.”

If HB 2463 becomes law, any guidelines published by the OOR would protect the health and safety of agency employees.

Additionally, if HB 2463 becomes law, agencies would continue to be able to avail themselves of the existing exemptions in Section 708 of the Right-to-Know Law.

Finally, if HB 2463 becomes law, the OOR would be required to publish the guidelines described above within five days. The OOR is ready to meet that deadline.