Articles

RSS

Click Here To Download:
•Guest Column: Digital Record Keeping: What Pennsylvania's New Right-to-Know Laws Can Teach Every Business

By Allen Gavlak, Optical Image Technology

Federal and state Right-to-Know laws have been in effect for several decades, but in Pennsylvania they were recently redefined. Regardless of whether or not you do business with agencies in the state of Pennsylvania, there are lessons you can learn about organizational efficiency as a result of these new laws.

Starting January 1, 2009, new Pennsylvania Right-to-Know (RTK) laws went into effect with significant implications for state-affiliated agencies. For more than two decades, federal and state RTK laws have enabled citizens to request records, but the burden of proof to show that documents were public (and should be accessible to its citizens) have traditionally—and legally—fallen on the people's shoulders.

As we ushered in the New Year, that changed in Pennsylvania. As before, any U.S. citizen can request records. However, now the burden of proving they are not public falls on state government agencies and their affiliates, with hefty fines if timelines and guidelines aren't met. With only five business days to comply with a request, Commonwealth agencies, schools, and other affiliates governed by the regulation are scrambling to respond to requests with accurate, timely, and appropriate information.

Click Here To Download:
•Guest Column: Digital Record Keeping: What Pennsylvania's New Right-to-Know Laws Can Teach Every Business