Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 49, December 7, 2024
(a)Response period generally. Upon receipt, the Open Records Officer has 5 business days to respond to the request for records under the RTKL. If a response is not sent within 5 business days, the request is considered "deemed denied" and a requester's appeal rights begin.(b)Interim response. The Open Records Officer is permitted to take an additional 30 calendar days to respond to any request for the reasons in section 902 of the RTKL (65 P.S. § 67.902). If an extension is applied, the Open Records Officer will inform the requester in writing within 5 business days.(c)Requester agreement to extend the response period. The requester may agree, in writing, to extend the response period beyond 30 days.(d)Final response. A request may be granted, partially granted and partially denied, or denied in its entirety. The final response will be in writing. Should a response fail to be issued within the applicable response period, the request is deemed denied.(e)Access to records. A response granting a request for access to records may be done by: (1) Granting access to inspect Senate records during regular Senate business hours.(2) Sending copies of the records to the requester.(3) Notifying the requester that the records are available on the Senate web site or other publicly accessible electronic means.(f)Denying or partially denying access to records. A response denying a request for access in its entirety or partially denying a request for access to records through redaction or otherwise, will inform the requester of the denial or partial denial in writing. The response will inform the requester that the Senate does not possess the record or, if the information is exempt from public access, provide a citation to the relevant legal basis for withholding the requested information.The provisions of this § 7.13a adopted March 30, 2018, effective 3/31/2018, 48 Pa.B. 1833.