Court Opinion

ID: 9774887
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:37:09.741262+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:17.372105
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
Judge SIMPSON.
I respectfully dissent from the thoughtful majority opinion authored by Judge Brobson. Unlike the majority, I would hold that the certified payroll records of third-party contractors who entered into contracts with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for public projects are not exempt from access Essentially, I disagree the payroll records contain exempt personal identification information. Thus, I would affirm.
Section 708 of the Law sets forth in subsection (b) 30 types of records exempt from presumed access. 65 P.S. § 67.708(b). One of those exemptions is addressed in the majority opinion: person*944al identification information. The pertinent language of the Law regarding the exemption for personal identification information is as follows (with emphasis added):
(b) Exceptions. — Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d), the following are exempt from access by a requester under this act:
(6)(i) The following personal identification information:
(A) A record containing all or part of a person’s Social Security number, driver’s license number, personal financial information, home, cellular or personal telephone numbers, personal email addresses, employee number or other confidential personal identification number.
(B) A spouse’s name, marital status or beneficiary or dependent information.
(C) The home address of a law enforcement officer or judge.
(ii) Nothing in this paragraph shall preclude the release of the name, position, salary, actual compensation or other payments or expenses, employment contract, employment-related contract or agreement and length of service of a public official or an agency employee.
(iii) An agency may redact the name or other identifying information relating to an individual performing an undercover or covert law enforcement activity from a record.
65 P.S. § 67.708(b)(6).
By the plain terms of the Law, personal financial information is a subset of personal identification information. Examples of personal identification information in subsection (A) have several traits in common: each is confidential, each is personal to an individual, and each is a number or an alphanumeric phrase which can be used to identify an individual.
The Law also contains a definition of “personal financial information.” It is defined as
An individual’s personal credit, charge or debit card information; bank account information; bank, credit or financial statements; account or PIN numbers and other information relating to an individual’s personal finances.
Section 102 of the Law, 65 P.S. § 67.102. This definition must be read in conjunction with the exemption language quoted above. 1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(a) (every statute shall be construed, if possible, to give effect to all its provisions). Thus, this definition does not trump or replace the personal identification language in the exemption; rather, the definition supplements the exemption language.
Applying the plain language of the Law, I conclude that the payroll information is not exempt personal identification information. While it certainly relates to a person’s finances, it is not used to identify an individual. Moreover, knowing a person’s pay does not facilitate contacting the payee or accessing the wage.
The majority cannot fathom financial information more personal than an individual’s pay. With little effort, however, I can imagine much more confidential financial identification information, such as an individual’s
1) safe deposit box number,
2) debit card or credit card PIN,
3) credit card security code or CIN,
4) financial account number,
5) financial account user ID,
6) financial account password,
7) financial account routing number, and
*9458) the answers to the additional identification questions that some financial accounts require.
This information identifies an individual to a financial institution and, more importantly, can lead to access of his or her financial resources. These types of personal financial information are covered by the personal identification information exemption.
At the very least, the personal identification information exemption is ambiguous because it is susceptible to more than one interpretation. Under these circumstances, we should turn to the rules of statutory construction. The object of all construction is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the General Assembly. 1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(a).
Fortunately, our Supreme Court recently confirmed the intention of the General Assembly with regard to public access of financial records under the predecessor statute:
[T]he public interest asserted herein is the people’s right to governmental transparency in the form of their right to know the identities of individuals receiving, or standing to receive, Commonwealth funds and the specific basis therefore. Such requests for information go to the heart of the RTKA and are precisely what the General Assembly intended when codifying the people’s right to know.
Pennsylvania State Univ. v. State Employees’ Ret. Bd., 594 Pa. 244, 259-60, 935 A.2d 530, 539 (2007); see also 1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(c)(5) (in ascertaining intention of General Assembly, court may consider the former law, including any statutes upon the same subject). My construction of the personal identification information exemption is more consistent with the General Assembly’s clear intent. My construction will allow citizens to follow the public money given to the employees of a third-party contractor for work on public projects.
There are several additional reasons supporting my conclusions. First and foremost, because the Law is remedial legislation, the exemptions from disclosure must be narrowly construed. Bowling v. Office of Open Records, 990 A.2d 813 (Pa.Cmwlth.2010) (en banc). My interpretation narrowly construes the personal identification information exemption by restricting it to information used for identification; therefore, my interpretation is consistent with direction given in our recent en banc decision.
Also, in ascertaining legislative intent, we must presume that the General Assembly intends to favor the public interest as against any private interest. 1 Pa.C.S. § 1922(5). My construction favors the public interest in following public money spent on public works, and it is therefore consistent with the statutory presumption.
Finally, I respectfully reject the majority’s reasoning regarding the so-called “carve out” exception to the exemption found in Section 708(b)(6)(ii). The language, quoted above, essentially states that nothing shall preclude release of name and wage information of a public official or agency employee. This language means what it says and nothing more: name and wage information of a public official or agency employee may not be redacted.
This language does not mean, as the majority asserts, that name and wage information of other individuals is exempt personal identification information. The plain language does not state that it is an exception to the exemption and does not declare any information exempt. Also, it does not mention other individuals at all. Reading it as an exception to the exemption for persons not mentioned is too convoluted. Surely, the General Assembly would have been more straightforward if it *946intended to shield wage information of non-agency employees who receive money for work on public projects.
For all these reasons, I would affirm the order of the Office of Open Records.
Judge PELLEGRINI joins.