Are lobbyist emails to lawmakers public records? A PA court will decide.

Angela Couloumbis, Spotlight PA, December 20, 2024

The case pits the news organization against the Pennsylvania Senate, which last year denied a request under the state’s Right-to-Know Law for emails between lawmakers and a group of lobbyists.

Spotlight PA had requested the correspondence as part of its  investigation into allegations of political corruption in the city of DuBois, which had employed lobbyists and received generous state grants. 

The state Senate swiftly and summarily denied the request, asserting that emails do not fall under one of the 19 categories of records that the legislature must make public under the law.  

Spotlight PA appealed, arguing that a clause within the Right-to-Know Law provides public access to lobbyist-lawmaker correspondence. The case is now before Commonwealth Court.