Governor Edward G. Rendell signed the new Right-To-Know law on February 14, 2008 fundamentally changing the way people access public records of their government. The hallmark of this new law, which fully takes effect January 1, 2009, is its presumption of openness. For the first time in Pennsylvania history, citizens no longer have to prove that a record is public and that it should be released. Now, a government agency must presume that a record is a public record available for inspection or copying. If the government agency chooses to withhold a record, the agency has the burden to prove – with legal citation – why that record should not be available to the public.
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