Draft Update to Standard RTK Request Form

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The Office of Open Records (OOR) is required by Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law (RTKL) to “develop a uniform [request] form which shall be accepted by all Commonwealth and local agencies” (Section 505(a) of the RTKL).

We’ve developed a draft update to the Standard RTK Request Form and we want to know what you think. The goal is simple: Improve the form by making it more useful and easier to understand for both agencies and requesters.

Please take a look at the draft update, compare it to the existing form, and share any comments or suggestions by Sept. 30, 2018.

Note: When the update is finalized, the PDF version of the form will be a fillable PDF, just as the current form is. The draft version does not include that feature.

Draft Update to the Standard RTK Request Form – draft as of Sept. 13, 2018

Current Standard RTK Request Form – as of Sept. 13, 2018

Contact the OOR to share your thoughts

Podcast: Two RTKL Surveys

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Podcast Logo CroppedThe fourth episode of the Open Records in Pennsylvania podcast is now available.

After a lengthy (far too lengthy) break, the podcast returns to discuss the results of two statewide surveys released earlier this year.

Links:
More about the OOR survey
More about the LBFC survey
Oct. 11, 2018, Requester Training
The Office of Open Records

Subscribe:
Open Records in Pennsylvania podcast on Apple Podcats / iTunes
Open Records in Pennsylvania podcast on Stitcher

To subscribe on other podcast apps, search for “Open Records in Pennsylvania” to find our feed.

Listen:

Download:
Episode 4 of the Open Records in Pennsylvania podcast

If you have ideas for future episodes of the podcast, I’d love to hear from you. Share your thoughts in the comments below, tweet to @ErikOpenRecords or @OpenRecordsPA, or send an email to openrecords (at) pa (dot) gov.

Oct. 11 in Harrisburg: RTKL Training for Requesters

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The Office of Open Records is hosting a training session on Thursday, Oct. 11, at our office in Harrisburg which will focus on Right-to-Know Law (RTKL) issues of importance to requesters.

Topics to be covered include how to write a good RTKL request, accessing information in databases, significant deadlines in the RTKL, how to appeal a RTKL denial, and more. There will also be time for questions and answers.

Sign up here to join us on Oct. 11.

NOTE: This training will be most useful for interested residents and members of the media. It will be of limited value to agency employees and agency attorneys.

If you’re interested in this kind of training but can’t join us for this event, the presentation used in the training will be posted to this blog, we’ll be providing additional requester training sessions (including webinars) in the future, and we’ll be creating more YouTube videos focused on requester issues.

Visit the OOR website for more information about upcoming OOR training sessions and to subscribe to the OOR’s email newsletter.

Two RTKL Presentations at Temple University

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Yesterday, I returned to my alma mater Temple University to speak to two journalism classes about Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law.

It was great to be back on campus (so much construction!). Both classes, one with undergraduate students and one with master’s students, had outstanding questions, and I greatly appreciate the invitations.

(If you’re a journalism professor in Pennsylvania, let me know if you’d like me to speak to your class and I’ll do my best to make it happen.)

Here are the PowerPoint presentations I used:

Temple University – Prof. Jillian Bauer-Reese – Sept. 4, 2018 (PPTX)
Temple University – Prof. Jillian Bauer-Reese – Sept. 4, 2018 (PDF)
Temple University – Dr. Logan Molyneux – Sept. 4, 2018 (PPTX)
Temple University – Dr. Logan Molyneux – Sept. 4, 2018 (PDF)

Twitter Thread: RTKL Deadlines

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Here’s a Twitter thread I posted recently exploring deadlines under the Right-to-Know Law.

Continue reading →

Twitter Thread: RTKL Procedural Issues

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Here’s a Twitter thread I posted recently exploring some common procedural issues which arise under the Right-to-Know Law.

Continue reading →

Presentation to Committee of Seventy Interns

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Earlier this week, a group of interns from the Committee of Seventy visited the Office of Open Records in Harrisburg to discuss the Right-to-Know Law and the OOR.

It was a great discussion, and I very much appreciate them visiting. Here’s the presentation I used to help frame the discussion:

Committee of Seventy Interns – July 31, 2018 (PPTX)
Committee of Seventy Interns – July 31, 2018 (PDF)

Federal Court Says Public Officials Can’t Block Twitter Users

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A federal court today ruled that President Donald J. Trump cannot block people from following his @realDonaldTrump account on Twitter.

The impact of the ruling, however, is not limited to the president.

Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York wrote, “This case requires us to consider whether a public official may, consistent with the First Amendment, ‘block’ a person from his Twitter account in response to the political views that person has expressed, and whether the analysis differs because that public official is the President of the United States. The answer to both questions is no.”

The full decision can be read here: Knight Institute vs. Trump