These are public records that must be disclosed under Pennsylvania's Right to
Know Act :
Accounts, vouchers or contracts dealing with the receipt or disbursement of
funds or the acquisition, use or disposal of services or supplies, materials,
equipment or other property (includes canceled checks and cell phone bills paid
by the county)
Minutes, orders or decisions by an agency* fixing the personal or property
rights, privileges, immunities, duties or obligations of any person or group of
persons
Reports, communications or other papers pertaining to safety and health in
industrial plants
Records of a conviction for a criminal act
In addition, Pennsylvania courts have ruled that the following records are
subject to inspection and copying under the Right to Know Act:
Code of Ethics and manuals fixing duties and obligations regarding the
treatment of state inmates
Contract between successful bidder on PennDOT contract to perform emissions
inspection
Department of Welfare: Nursing home settlement and appeal activity reports
Real estate appraisals performed in connection with a city's effort to
acquire property (held to fix personal or property rights of the owners of the
property affected)
A report prepared by a hospital accreditation commission for welfare
department
A township's and municipality's canceled checks
Arrest warrant affidavits, unless court order says otherwise
Exam papers and scores of applicants for civil service jobs
Records of retired state employees
Attendance record cards of professional employees of school districts
The building record portion of property records (containing construction
specifications) maintained by county boards for the assessment and revision of
taxes
Accident reports and certain studies conducted by the Commonwealth concerning
the accidents
Completed reports prepared by the Department of Labor and Industry on safety
and health in industrial plants
The review and refund docket of the Board of Finance and Revenue
The list of names and addresses of kindergarten children in a school district
Police payroll records
Lists of people taking CPA exams
Addresses to which a school district forwarded the scholastic records of
former pupils
Lists of delinquent taxpayers
Subscriber lists for magazines published by the Commonwealth
Crime, death and accident reports filed with the police department
Names and addresses of public high school graduating classes
Evaluations of state psychiatric institutions compiled by a commission which
prescribes standards for hospitals participating in certain federally funded
programs
Statistical data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education on the racial
and ethnic composition, by school district, of programs for exceptional children
Settlement agreement in police brutality lawsuit
A list of unclaimed checks held by the state Treasury Department.
Escheat records of abandoned and unclaimed property held by the Department of
Revenue
Hearing transcripts of testimony and evidence from an electric utility base
rate case before the PUC
Although individual agencies still may agree to release the following
information, Pennsylvania courts have ruled that these records are NOT subject
to inspection or copying under the Right to Know Act:
A Pennsylvania Insurance Department investigative file on a licensee
Psychological, staffing and job evaluations made to complete a state
prisoner's suit against Department of Corrections officials in regards to parole
consideration
Criminal pre-sentence reports and related psychiatric and psychological
reports
Notice of compensation records from Bureau of Workers Compensation
Correspondence and memoranda by Department of General Services concerning
request for proposals to lease office space to government agency
Information relating to assignment of assistant district attorneys to
specific cases
The contents of a contractual settlement between a school board and a teacher
Field investigation notes taken by city planning department staff to report
to a city council member
Departmental budget reports required by the budget secretary (held to be a
statement of facts and events, not an "account" consisting of debits
and credits)
Names, addresses and amounts received by welfare recipients
Contents of a teacher's personnel file maintained by the school district
Financial disclosure statements voluntarily submitted in response to
executive orders requesting such statements from members of the governor' s
cabinet and members of certain agencies
Financial information regarding the operation of state-related universities
Physical fitness reports and promotional evaluation reports of police
departments
The name of a person who accused a police officer of receiving stolen
property as well as the police department's files on the investigation of the
complaint
X "Raw data" compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of Health for
a study on the connection between the Three Mile Island accident and birth
defects
Information from tax returns filed with a municipality and results of tax
audits
Plans for special education programs submitted to, but not acted on, by the
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Request for the statements and notes of testimony of alleged co-defendants,
as well as requests for all relevant newspaper clippings and articles dealing
with a criminal case
Job applications that were not reviewed
Police investigative reports
Audio tape recordings of 911 telephone calls
Urinalysis reports from halfway houses
Legal opinions from solicitors and attorneys that are not essential
components of agency decisions
Inmates' medical and mental health records
What's an agency in Right to Know? Definition of an AGENCY under the Right to
Know Law:
Any department, board or commission of the executive branch of the
Commonwealth government, any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, the
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission or any State or municipal authority or similar
organization which performs essential government functions.
Examples of agencies school boards, zoning boards, the governor of
Pennsylvania, universities belonging to the state system of higher education
(such as Millersville University and West Chester State University, but not
state-related universities like Penn State or Temple University), the Public
Utility Commission, and sometimes even non-profit corporations if they are
deemed to be agencies by Pennsylvania statute (for example, non-profit
corporations that lease property with rental values in excess of $1,500,000 to
the Commonwealth).
