Hey folks,
Media Mobilizing Project is preparing to ask the city government for a few different documents. I wondered if folks have experience and suggestions for following through on this process. We are considering using either the Sunshine Act or the Freedom of Information Act and wanted to know if there are advantages or reasons to use one over the other. We were leaning towards the former but hoped to get advice. Has anyone used these before consistently? Do people have suggestions?
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Sunshine Act and FOIA
The PA Sunshine Act applies to Open Meetings. The PA Right to Know Act applies to Open Records. There have been attempts to update the Sunshine Act to fix some of the problems with this rather weak law. Legislation to fix the Sunshine Act has gotten stuck in Rep. Josephs's Committee. A new (better) PA Right to Know Act was passed this year; it takes effect on Jan. 1 of next year. The FOIA applies to federal agencies not state agencies. I have used all three acts. In that I assume you want to get PA records or records from local PA governments, you would want to use the Right to Know Act. You might want to consider waiting to make a request until 1/1/09 so your request can be under the new PA Right to Know Act and some of the beneficial changes in the new law.