PRIOR PRINTER'S NOS. 256, 1736
PRINTER'S NO. 3150
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
283
Session of
2019
INTRODUCED BY SIMMONS, NEILSON, IRVIN, BARRAR, LAWRENCE,
FREEMAN, KORTZ, RADER, B. MILLER AND GABLER, JANUARY 30, 2019
AS AMENDED ON SECOND CONSIDERATION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
JANUARY 15, 2020
AN ACT
Amending the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), entitled
"An act providing for access to public information, for a
designated open-records officer in each Commonwealth agency,
local agency, judicial agency and legislative agency, for
procedure, for appeal of agency determination, for judicial
review and for the Office of Open Records; imposing
penalties; providing for reporting by State-related
institutions; requiring the posting of certain State contract
information on the Internet; and making related repeals," in
preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions; in
procedure, further providing for written requests; and, in
judicial review, further providing for fee limitations.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 102 of the act of February 14, 2008
(P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-to-Know Law, is amended by
adding a definition to read:
Section 102. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
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"Commercial purpose."
As follows:
(1) The use of a record for any of the following
purposes:
(i) Selling or reselling any portion of the record.
(ii) Obtaining names and addresses from the record
for the purpose of commercial solicitation.
(iii) Any other purpose through which the requester
can reasonably expect to generate revenue.
(2) The term does not include the use of a record by a
nonprofit educational or noncommercial scientific institution
for scholarly or scientific research or the use of a record
by the news media, a journalist or an author for news
gathering or dissemination in a newspaper, periodical, book,
digital publication or radio or television news broadcast.
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Section 2. Section 703 of the act is amended to read:
Section 703. Written requests.
(a) General rule.--A written request for access to records
may be submitted in person, by mail, by e-mail, by facsimile or,
to the extent provided by agency rules, by any other electronic
means. A written request must be addressed to the open-records
officer designated pursuant to section 502. Employees of an
agency shall be directed to forward requests for records to the
open-records officer. A written request should identify or
describe the records sought with sufficient specificity to
enable the agency to ascertain which records are being requested
and shall include the name and address to which the agency
should address its response. [A]
(b) Reason for request.--Except as provided in subsection
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(c), a written request need not include any explanation of the
requester's reason for requesting or intended use of the records
unless otherwise required by law.
(c) Commercial requests.--An agency may require a requester
to certify in writing whether the request is for a commercial
purpose. Certification shall be submitted in a manner approved
by the Office of Open Records. A requester that submits a false
written statement under this subsection shall be subject to 18
Pa.C.S. ยง 4904 (relating to unsworn falsification to
authorities).
Section 3. Section 1307 of the act is amended by adding
subsections to read:
Section 1307. Fee limitations.
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(e.1) Records to be used for a commercial purpose.--
(1) In responding to a request for records that will be
used for a commercial purpose, an agency may charge a
requester additional standard fees for the search, review and
duplication of the records. The fees for records to be used
for a commercial purpose must be reasonable, must be approved
by the Office of Open Records and may not be established with
the intent or effect of excluding persons from access to
records or duplicates thereof or of creating profit for the
agency.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a request for
(2) PARAGRAPH (1) SHALL NOT APPLY TO ANY OF THE
FOLLOWING:
(I) A REQUEST FOR records that are subject to the
fees under subsection (b)(4).
(II) A REQUEST FOR RECORDS THAT ARE SUBJECT TO FEES
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ESTABLISHED IN LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THIS COMMONWEALTH
THAT ARE NOT SUBJECT TO THIS ACT.
(III) A REQUEST FOR RECORDS FROM AN ATTORNEY ON
BEHALF OF A CLIENT IF RECORDS ARE NOT OBTAINED FOR THE
PURPOSE OF SELLING, RESELLING OR SOLICITATION BY THE
ATTORNEY OR THE CLIENT OR USED BY THE CLIENT FOR A
COMMERCIAL PURPOSE.
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(i) Alternative fee arrangement.--An agency and a requester
may enter into a contract, memorandum of understanding or other
agreement that provides an alternative fee arrangement to the
fees authorized under this section. An agreement under this
subsection shall be public.
(j) Appeals.--A fee charged under this section may be
appealed to the Office of Open Records.
Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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