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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | May 21, 2015 10:50 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Bob Mensch |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Prohibits Use of the Open Records Law for Commercial Purposes |
| In the near future, I intend to introduce legislation that would prohibit using the Open Records Law for commercial purposes. An example of a typical commercial use would be when title companies need to research whether taxes were paid when a house is sold. Instead of paying the locally elected tax collectors a tax certification fee (about $25), they do a right to know request to the school districts for the monthly tax collectors reports and then search through those for the parcels that have been sold. Another example, this time on the municipal level, a commercial sales company will use the Open Records Law to do a right to know request on building permits in order to find sales leads for people that have built driveways, pools, fences etc. These are just two examples of the misuse of the Open Records Law. The open records process was not intended to be used to pursue sales leads on the backs of school districts and municipalities in these ways and this legislation will put an end to that practice. My hope is that this legislation brings this issue to the forefront of the discussion as we talk about updating the Open Records Law this session. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation. If you have any questions please contact Matt Azeles in my office at 717-787-3110. |