While the Right-to-Know Law (RTKL) continues to be in effect for most municipal entities, its function has been temporarily suspended for the Commonwealth due to the current COVID-19 emergency. Pursuant to Section 901 of the law, all requests must receive a response within five business days – excluding days closed for business. If an agency faces “bona fide issues” related to this pandemic, the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records’ (OOR) advisory permits temporary suspensions exceeding the scope of that law. The OOR recommends the agency seek their solicitor’s advice before taking this recourse. Under Act 15, municipalities operating under an… read more »
COVID-19 Update: New Act Provides PA with Safe Secure Remote-Notary Service without Leaving Home
Article by: Attorney Timothy Bupp and Paralegal Cori Spisak Earlier this week, our Legislature acted to make Pennsylvanians safer by strengthening the use of remote notarization in the Commonwealth. Act 15 of 2020, signed by Governor Wolf on April 20, gives statutory support to the Governor’s previous Executive Orders on remote notary. Notaries can now assist with the signing, witnessing and notarization of legal documents without the signors physically appearing before the notary agent. Act 15 also expands the use of remote notary to a wider range of documents and to signors outside of the boundaries of our Commonwealth. These protections will… read more »
COVID-19 Municipal Update: ACT 15 of 2020 — A Primer for Municipalities
On Monday, April 20th, 2020, Governor Tom Wolf signed Act 15 2020 (the “Act”), which, among other things, has significant implications for the administration of local government in Pennsylvania for the duration of the Disaster Emergency that was declared on March 6th, 2020.Specifically, the Act addresses three issues relevant to local government: The Act allows municipalities, for the duration of Disaster Emergency, to conduct business through telecommunication devices, provided that public participation is permitted to the maximum extent possibleThe Act tolls the time limits for applications received by a municipality or pending before the municipality for a period of 30… read more »
