Disclaimers may be meaningless UPDATED

I am saying from the beginning that this particular post is a work in progress. I uploaded the podcast from last night's Right To Know Information Session given by State Representative Dan Miller. You can listen to it here. Agenda is here.

I will be sharing the handouts from last night's meeting and adding them to this blog entry.

Attendance was light. Representatives from two school districts were there, including the Mt. Lebanon School District Open Records Officer. I am guessing that less than a dozen private citizens also attended.

The session was extremely informative. The first half of the session included an introduction of the Right To Know Law by Nathanael Byerly, Deputy Director Office of Open Records, recent case law changes to the RTK Law, updates from State Rep. Dan Miller, and a review of SB444 from Senator Matt Smith.

The second half of the information session included questions to the panel, which were submitted on index cards, or asked directly from the podium.

I learned that text messages ARE subject to the RTK law, contrary to what was established during a MTLSD Policy Committee meeting. I always request ALL communication, but have never received one text message submission.

A question was submitted to the panel asking, "Would a disclaimer written on a local agency's email invalidate it from a RTK?" The answer was, unless it was one of the exceptions or that it wasn't of a personal nature such as "What's for dinner?" or any copyrighted information or secret formulas, for example, disclaimers are meaningless. It would be subject to the Right To Know Law. The question was asked at the 1:19:00 portion of the podcast. I followed that discussion and asked several additional questions about disclaimers, as well as sharing the disclaimer in question with the panel which on my iPad. The disclaimer was:

MTLSD Disclaimer: This transmission is intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged, confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law.  If you are not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, retention, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately. 

I questioned something that came up here by a now disgruntled reader of this blog. I asked about large documents that are available in digital form, but are printed out by the local agency [MTLSD] and charge the requestor 25 cents a page for the hard copy. The answer was that if it was in digital form and requested in digital form, then the agency is not permitted to do that.

Another resident contrasted the willingness of our municipal government to share information and the lack of cooperation by our school district.

Handouts from the Right To Know Information Session include:

Citizen's Guide

PA Office of Open Records 2013 Annual Training Powerpoint

Right To Know Appeals flow chart

Right To Know Information Session

State Representative Dan Miller is hosting a timely event for his constituents. On Thursday, November 7, 2013 at 6 PM, Dan is hosting a Right To Know Information Session at the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Building. This informational session on PA Right To Know law will feature:

• Panelist Nathan Byerly, Deputy Director of the Office of Open Records.
• Panelist Matt Smith, Minority Chairman of the Senate State Government Committee.
• Public Q & A and discussion with panelists.

Dan has always been a proponent of Open Government. He posted regularly on his blog and encouraged me to record his meetings during his term as Commission President. Dan also opposed closed Joint Discussion Sessions which were held between the Commission and School Board.

Please join Dan at his Right To Know Information Session and learn about updates to the law and best practices for both requestors and officers.