Court Opinion

ID: 9774886
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:37:09.736659+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:17.370107
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
Judge PELLEGRINI.
I join Judge Simpson’s cogent dissent explaining why information in reports submitted to governmental agencies detailing the money received under terms and conditions prescribed by the Prevailing Wage Act and paid with government funds under government contracts is not “personal financial information” and exempt from access.
I write separately because, even if the majority’s conclusion that money is “personal financial information” is correct, the majority erred by redacting the names and addresses of the contractor’s employees rather than the exempt financial information from the reports that the prevailing wage contractor is required to submit to the contracting governmental agency. Section 708(c) of the Righb-to-Know Law, 65 P.S. § 67.708(c), provides that an “agency may redact that portion of a financial record protected” under, among other subsections, Section 708(b)(6)(i)(A). Moreover, Section 706 of the Right-to-Know Law, 65 P.S. § 67.706, provides, in relevant part:
If an agency determines that a public record, legislative record or financial record contains information which is subject to access as well as information which is not subject to access, the agency’s response shall grant access to the information which is subject to access and deny access to the information which is not subject to access.
Nothing in the Righb-to-Know Law makes inaccessible the names and home addresses of the employees of a business that contracts with a governmental agency. The majority found that under Section 708(b)(6)(i)(A), the information of money paid in accordance with the Prevailing Wage Law was inaccessible as protected financial information. Under the plain language of 65 P.S. § 67.706 and 65 P.S. § 67.708(c), the majority should have granted access to the names and addresses of the employees, but denied access — redacted — what it believes to be exempt personal financial information.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
Judge SIMPSON joins.