Terry Mutchler Quoted in Broad + Liberty on Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law

Terry Mutchler, Chair of Obermayer’s Transparency & Public Data Practice and former founding Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records, was quoted in Broad + Liberty’s August 13, 2026 article, titled “Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law has a blind spot. The governor’s office knows exactly where it is.”

The article examines a structural gap in Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law, focusing on the Broad + Liberty v. Office of the Governor appeal and questions surrounding the Governor’s Office’s search for responsive records.

Terry, who was the founding Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records, offered her perspective on the Office of Open Records’ handling of the appeal discussed in the article. While emphasizing that she personally views Governor Shapiro as an advocate for transparency, Terry questioned the OOR’s approach in the specific case.

“The Office of Open Records is off the mark,” Terry said, speaking only in reference to the Broad + Liberty appeal. “I have not yet seen another case that gives a determination at the end where they say [to the government], ‘You didn’t meet your burden, but you have some extra time to do it.’ Having a ‘sponge determination’ that gives an agency more time to do something, leaving no recourse for the requester to then come back to the office to review it — that’s what happened here, and I don’t think it’s a good move.”

Terry noted that the OOR had other options, pointing to a September 2025 determination in Epstein v. Commonwealth Charter Academy, where the OOR required the agency to identify responsive records and assert exemptions under its supervision before ultimately finding bad faith. The case, she said, demonstrates tools the OOR can use to ensure requesters receive records.

Read the full article here.