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§ 67.1310. Office of Open Records

Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes and Consolidated StatutesTitle 65 P.S. Public OfficersEffective: February 14, 2008

Purdon's Pennsylvania Statutes and Consolidated Statutes
Title 65 P.S. Public Officers (Refs & Annos)
Chapter 3A. Right-to-Know Law (Refs & Annos)
Chapter 13. Judicial Review (Refs & Annos)
Effective: February 14, 2008
65 P.S. § 67.1310
§ 67.1310. Office of Open Records
Currentness
(a) Establishment.--There is established in the Department of Community and Economic Development an Office of Open Records. The office shall do all of the following:
(1) Provide information relating to the implementation and enforcement of this act.
(2) Issue advisory opinions to agencies and requesters.
(3) Provide annual training courses to agencies, public officials and public employees on this act and 65 Pa.C.S. Ch. 7 (relating to open meetings).
(4) Provide annual, regional training courses to local agencies, public officials and public employees.
(5) Assign appeals officers to review appeals of decisions by Commonwealth agencies or local agencies, except as provided in section 503(d),1 filed under section 11012 and issue orders and opinions. The office shall employ or contract with attorneys to serve as appeals officers to review appeals and, if necessary, to hold hearings on a regional basis under this act. Each appeals officer must comply with all of the following:
(i) Complete a training course provided by the Office of Open Records prior to acting as an appeals officer.
(ii) If a hearing is necessary, hold hearings regionally as necessary to ensure access to the remedies provided by this act.
(iii) Comply with the procedures under section 1102(b).3
(6) Establish an informal mediation program to resolve disputes under this act.
(7) Establish an Internet website with information relating to this act, including information on fees, advisory opinions and decisions and the name and address of all open records officers in this Commonwealth.
(8) Conduct a biannual review of fees charged under this act.
(9) Annually report on its activities and findings to the Governor and the General Assembly. The report shall be posted and maintained on the Internet website established under paragraph (7).
(b) Executive director.--Within 90 days of the effective date of this section, the Governor shall appoint an executive director of the office who shall serve for a term of six years. Compensation shall be set by the Executive Board established under section 2044 of the act of April 9, 1929 (P. L. 177, No. 175), known as The Administrative Code of 1929. The executive director may serve no more than two terms.
(c) Limitation.--The executive director shall not seek election nor accept appointment to any political office during his tenure as executive director and for one year thereafter.
(d) Staffing.--The executive director shall appoint attorneys to act as appeals officers and additional clerical, technical and professional staff as may be appropriate and may contract for additional services as necessary for the performance of the executive director's duties. The compensation of attorneys and other staff shall be set by the Executive Board. The appointment of attorneys shall not be subject to the act of October 15, 1980 (P.L. 950, No. 164),5 known as the Commonwealth Attorneys Act.
(e) Duties.--The executive director shall ensure that the duties of the Office of Open Records are carried out and shall monitor cases appealed to the Office of Open Records.
(f) Appropriation.--The appropriation for the office shall be in a separate line item and shall be under the jurisdiction of the executive director.

Credits

2008, Feb. 14, P.L. 6, No. 3, § 1310, imd. effective.

Footnotes

1
65 P.S. § 67.503.
2
65 P.S. § 67.1101.
3
65 P.S. § 67.1102.
4
71 P.S. § 64.
5
71 P.S. § 732-101 et seq.
65 P.S. § 67.1310, PA ST 65 P.S. § 67.1310
Current through Act 10 of the 2024 Regular Session. Some statute sections may be more current, see credits for details.
End of Document