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Pennsylvania Weighs Open Records Access Fee

A proposed update of the state's open records law for public agencies would limit inmate access and charge a fee for commercially driven requests, among other changes to the 6-year-old law.

(TNS) -- Allegheny County receives about 750 open records requests a year.

About 200 are from prison inmates and 150 from commercial entities — the two largest categories of requesters.

“Sometimes, it's a big effort to assemble that information,” said Jerry Tyskiewicz, the county's Right-to-Know officer.

A proposed update of Pennsylvania's open records law for public agencies would limit inmate access and charge a fee for commercially driven requests, among other changes to the 6-year-old law.

A parallel proposal would publicize more information from the state-related universities: the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State, Temple and Lincoln universities.

The language mirrors a bill the state Senate passed unanimously late last session that the House of Representatives didn't take up before year's end. Doug Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners Association, said the group supports the rewrite.

Common commercial requests include companies seeking copies of pool permits or dog licenses to build mailing lists, or engineering companies seeking maps or records.

The fee would apply to requests that take longer than an hour to process, and equate to the hourly rate of the lowest-paid employee able to handle the request. A similar fee exists for such requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

The state Office of Open Records handled 2,479 appeals in 2013, more than double the 1,155 in 2009, according to the most recent annual report. About 40 percent of those appeals are from inmates. The bill, which Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County, sponsored, limits records an inmate can request to his or her own history and Department of Corrections policies.

Paula K. Knudsen, director of government affairs and legislative counsel with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said the group has no official position on the bill. What's key, she said, is ensuring that lawmakers not change the presumption that records are public.

A proposal from Sen. John Blake, D-Lackawanna County, would require the four universities to offer online, searchable databases of public information.

Database information would include budget figures and aggregate employee and student data. The proposal would require Pitt, Penn State and Temple to make public the largest 200 employee salaries, up from 25, and post information about contracts of $5,000 or more. Lincoln, a smaller school, can stay at the mandated 25 employees' salaries but would need to provide contract information.

Pitt spokesman Ken Service said the university provides “more than adequate” public data.

“As things stand now, people can very accurately tell how we spend our commonwealth funds,” Service said. “That being said, whatever turns out to be the law, we will comply with.”

©2015 The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.)