Color me confused
Jan 25th, 2008 by JamieB
It is true that I am not a lawyer, but I was once an English teacher, and I am having a hard time parsing the language of Senate Bill 1, the pending open-records bill. Take, for example, Chapter 17, on pages 54-57, which deals with state contracts.
Below are excerpts from the bill (the parts in CAPITAL LETTERS are changes made by the House during the December session) with my attempts to decipher what they mean.
Section 1701. Submission and retention of contracts.
(a) General rule.–Whenever any Commonwealth agency, legislative agency or judicial agency shall enter into any contract involving any property, real, personal or mixed of any kind or description or any contract for personal services where the consideration involved in the contract is $5,000 or more, a copy of the contract shall be furnished to the Treasury Department within ten days after the contract is executed on behalf of the Commonwealth agency, legislative agency or judicial agency or otherwise becomes an obligation of the Commonwealth agency, legislative agency or judicial agency. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to contracts for services protected by a privilege.
(b) Retention.–Every contract filed pursuant to subsection (a) shall remain on file with the Treasury Department for a period of not less than four years after the end date of the contract.
(c) Accuracy.–Each Commonwealth agency, legislative agency and judicial agency is responsible for verifying the accuracy and completeness of the information that it submits to the State Treasurer.
JB – This seems pretty straightforward. A copy of all contracts of $5,000 or more must be submitted to the Treasury Department within 10 days of signing, and it shall remain on file there for at least four years. The agency that entered into the contract is responsible for its accuracy.
(d) CONTRACTS PROVIDED PURSUANT TO THE FISCAL CODE.—THE COPY OF A CONTRACT PROVIDED TO THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 1701 SHALL BE IN ADDITION TO ANY COPY OF THE CONTRACT PROVIDED TO THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT UNDER THE ACT OF APRIL 9, 1929 (P.L.343, NO.176), KNOWN AS THE FISCAL CODE. COPIES OF CONTRACTS RECEIVED BY THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF AUDITOR GENERAL, OR DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE FROM AN AGENCY PURSUANT TO THE FISCAL CODE SHALL NOT BE MADE AVAILABLE TO A REQUESTER BY THE STATE TREASURER, AUDITOR GENERAL OR THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE.
JB – Here things get a little trickier. It looks as if the Treasury Department will sometimes get two copies of the same contract. Presumably those copies are identical (for that, after all, is the definition of a copy) . . . but perhaps not because it appears that one of them is not a public record. How is that possible?
Section 1702. Public availability of contracts.
(a) General rule.–The Treasury Department shall make each contract filed pursuant to section 1701 available for public inspection either by posting a copy of the contract on the Treasury Department’s publicly accessible Internet website or by posting a contract summary on the department’s publicly accessible Internet website. EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE PROVIDED IN THIS CHAPTER, A REQUEST FOR A COPY OF A CONTRACT SHALL ONLY BE MADE TO AN AGENCY WHO IS A PARTY TO THE CONTRACT.
(b) Posting.–. . . . The Treasury Department shall post the information received pursuant to this chapter in a way that allows the public to search contracts or contract summaries by the categories enumerated in section 1701(a)(2).
(c) Request to review or receive copy of contract.—The Treasury Department shall maintain a page on its publicly accessible Internet website with instructions on how to request to review a contract and how to request a copy of a contract. Requests to review or receive a copy of a contract shall be allowed by letter, facsimile or e-mail. Additionally, both requests shall be honored within five days of the submission of the request and in the case of a request for a copy of a contract it shall be provided to the individual at cost. The Treasury Department may offer to provide a copy of the requested contract electronically to the requester at no cost.
JB – So, do I request a copy of the contract from the Treasury Department or only from an agency who is party to the contract? Why can’t I just download the contract from the Treasury’s website?
Insights welcome.