PRINTER'S NO. 517
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
488
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY MASTRIANO, VOGEL, PHILLIPS-HILL AND MENSCH,
APRIL 8, 2021
REFERRED TO STATE GOVERNMENT, APRIL 8, 2021
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
State-related institutions, further providing for reporting,
for contents of report and for copies and posting and
providing for contracts.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 1502, 1503 and 1504 of the act of
February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-to-Know Law,
are amended to read:
Section 1502. [Reporting] Filing.
No later than May 30 of each year, unless otherwise provided
under this chapter, a State-related institution shall file [with
the Governor's Office, the General Assembly, the Auditor General
and the State Library] the information set forth in section 1503
under the requirements of section 1504.
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Section 1503. Contents of [report] filing.
(a) Information included.--The [report] filing required
under section 1502 shall include the following:
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (4), all information
required by Form 990 or an equivalent form of the United
States Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service,
entitled the Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax,
regardless of whether the State-related institution is
required to file the form by the Federal Government.
(2) The salaries of all officers and directors of the
State-related institution.
(3) The highest 25 salaries paid to employees of the
institution that are not included under paragraph (2).
(3.1) For a State-related institution with 2,500
employees or more, the next highest 175 salaries paid to
employees of the institution that are not included under
paragraph (2). The salaries of faculty members must be
presented in salary ranges comprised of bands of no more than
$75,000 with individual faculty member names itemized
alphabetically in the respective salary range. The
institution department to which a faculty member is assigned
must be presented with the name of the faculty member.
(4) The [report] filing shall not include information
relating to individual donors.
(5) Revenue and expenditure budgets of the State-related
institution's academic and administrative support units for
the current fiscal year.
(6) The actual revenue and expenditures for the prior
year.
(7) For any defined project or program which is the
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subject of a specific line item appropriation from the
General Fund, the State-related institution shall disclose
the following:
(i) Revenue and expenditure budgets of the defined
program or project for the current fiscal year.
(ii) The actual revenue and expenditures of the
defined program or project for the prior year.
(8) The revenue and expenditures of any auxiliary
enterprise which is directly funded in whole or in part by
tuition or a State appropriation for the current fiscal year.
(9) The most recent audited financial statement for the
State-related institution.
(10) The following information for the prior fiscal year
for each academic or administrative support unit, for each
defined project or program and for an auxiliary enterprise:
(i) The number of employees by academic rank.
(ii) The number of administrators, staff, clerical
and technical service employees, by classification.
(iii) Median and mean salary by academic rank.
(iv) Median and mean salaries of administrators,
staff, clerical and technical service employees, by
classification.
(v) Nonsalary compensation as a percentage of
salary. Nonsalary compensation shall include:
(A) Medical benefits.
(B) Life insurance benefits.
(C) Pension benefits.
(D) Leave benefits.
(E) Employer Social Security payments.
(F) Workers' compensation benefits.
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(vi) A statement of the State-related institution's
retirement policies.
(vii) A policy statement relating to a reduction of
tuition for employees' family members.
(viii) A list by academic or administrative support
unit in the aggregate of the expenses of travel,
subsistence and lodging, whether provided or reimbursed.
(b) Providing information.--Each State-related institution
shall provide full, complete and accurate information as may be
required by the Department of Education or the chairperson or
minority chairperson of the Appropriations Committee of the
Senate or the chairperson or minority chairperson of the
Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives.
(c) Financial statements.--Each State-related institution
shall present and report its financial statements required under
the provisions of this act in accordance with:
(1) The generally accepted accounting principles as
prescribed by the National Association of College and
University Business Officers, the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants or by another recognized
authoritative body.
(2) The "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Budget
Instructions for the State System of Higher Education, State-
Related Universities and Non-State-Related Colleges and
Universities."
(3) The financial reporting policies and standards
promulgated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and by the
Federal Government that apply to the State-related
institutions.
(d) Nonpreferred appropriations.--
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(1) In a year a State-related institution receives a
nonpreferred appropriation, a report shall be submitted prior
to September 1 and must cover the 12-month period beginning
with the summer term of the preceding year. The report shall
include:
(i) The following counts and distributions for each
term during the period:
(A) The definition and number of:
(I) Faculty members employed full time.
(II) Faculty members employed part time.
(III) Full-time students enrolled in a
graduate course.
(IV) Full-time students enrolled in an
undergraduate course.
(V) Part-time students enrolled in a
graduate course.
(VI) Part-time students enrolled in an
undergraduate course.
(B) The total number of:
(I) Undergraduate student credit hours,
divided into lower division and upper division
course levels.
(II) Graduate student credit hours, divided
into three course levels: master's, first
professional and doctoral.
(C) The number of different courses scheduled by
level of instruction and the number of sections of
individual instruction scheduled by level of
instruction, each further subdivided by two-digit
Classification of Instructional Program (CIP)
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categories of instructional programs of higher
education as defined by the National Center for
Education Statistics, United States Department of
Education.
(D) The number of terms scheduled and the dates
of the terms.
(ii) For the summer term and the following academic
year in total and for each two-digit CIP program
category:
(A) A classification of faculty members or other
professional employees by title, including:
(I) Professor.
(II) Associate professor.
(III) Assistant professor.
(IV) Instructor.
(V) Lecturer.
(VI) Research associate.
(VII) Librarian and academic administrator.
(B) Faculty members or other professional
employees under each title to be subdivided into
teaching and nonteaching.
(C) Each set of faculty members or other
professional employees to be further subdivided by
full-time or part-time employment.
(D) The following aggregates for each
subdivided classification:
(I) The number of faculty and other
professional employees and the full-time
equivalence in instructional and noninstructional
functions.
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(II) The sum of credits assigned to
undergraduate classroom courses and the sum of
credits assigned to graduate classroom courses
taught divided into lower division, upper
division, master's, first professional and
doctoral course levels.
(III) The sum of credits assigned to
undergraduate individual instruction courses and
the sum of credits assigned to graduate
individual instruction courses taught divided
into lower division, upper division, master's,
first professional and doctoral course levels.
(IV) The sum of undergraduate classroom
student credit hours and the sum of graduate
classroom student credit hours generated, divided
into lower division, upper division, master's,
first professional and doctoral course levels.
(V) The sum of undergraduate individual
instruction student credit hours and the sum of
graduate individual instruction student credit
hours generated, divided into lower division,
upper division, master's, first professional and
doctoral course levels.
(VI) The total salary paid for instructional
functions and for noninstructional functions and
the amount of salary paid for each of these
functions from State-related institution funds,
Federal funds and other funds.
(iii) For each term of the period covered for each
faculty member employed full time identified by two-digit
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CIP program category and title, the report shall contain
an analysis of the average hours per week spent:
(A) In State-related institution-related
activities, stating specifically hours spent in
undergraduate classroom contact and graduate
classroom contact hours spent in preparation.
(B) In research.
(C) In public service.
(2) The report covering the 12-month period shall
include for each program of the State-related institution:
(i) Minimum number of credits required for a
baccalaureate degree and for a master's degree.
(ii) Number of bachelor's degrees, master's degrees,
first professional degrees and doctoral degrees awarded
for the previous five years and those estimates for that
year.
(e) Minutes.--Each State-related institution shall make a
copy of the minutes of each public meeting of the institution's
board of trustees available for public inspection in the
institution's library in print format and online on the
institution's publicly accessible Internet website. The minutes
shall be maintained in print and online for no fewer than 20
years.
(f) Data systems report.--Each State-related university
shall make a copy of the institution's integrated postsecondary
education data systems report available for public inspection in
the institution's library in print format and online on the
institution's publicly accessible Internet website.
Section 1504. [Copies and posting] Requirements for information
in filings.
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[A State-related institution shall maintain, for at least
seven years, a copy of the report in the institution's library
and shall provide free access to the report on the institution's
Internet website.] A State-related institution shall make the
information required by section 1502 accessible to the public in
accordance with the following:
(1) The information shall be posted online on the
institution's publicly accessible Internet website in a
searchable, sortable and downloadable database format that is
freely accessible by the public. To the extent possible, a
State-related institution shall post the information online
in a similar manner in order to facilitate easy public
review. The information of prior years shall be maintained
for no fewer than ten years.
(2) The information shall be maintained in print format
in the institution's library for no fewer than ten years.
(3) The information shall be provided in electronic
format to the Department of Education and the Joint State
Government Commission.
(4) The information shall be provided in print format to
the General Assembly and to each of the State regional
library resource centers.
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 1505. Contracts.
(a) Scope.--By May 30 of each year, a State-related
institution shall file with the Governor's Office, the Secretary
of the Senate, the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives
and the State Library an annual list of contracts in excess of
$5,000 for the purchase of all goods and third-party services.
(b) Contents.--The list shall include all of the following:
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(1) Date of execution.
(2) Amount of the contract.
(3) Beginning date of the contract.
(4) End date of the contract, if applicable.
(5) The name and address of the vendor.
(6) Subject matter of the contract.
(c) Privilege.--This section shall not apply to a contract
for services protected by a privilege.
(d) Evidence.--This section:
(1) shall apply to a purchase order evidencing new
obligations; but
(2) shall not apply to a purchase order evidencing
fulfillment of an existing contract.
(e) Posting.--Information under this section shall be posted
and maintained on the institution's publicly accessible Internet
website.
Section 3. This act shall take effect as follows:
(1) The amendment or addition of sections 1503 and 1505
of the act shall take effect July 1, 2022, or immediately,
whichever is later.
(2) This section shall take effect immediately.
(3) The remainder of this act shall take effect July 1,
2021, or immediately, whichever is later.
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