PIAA is subject to state open records laws, court rules

The Commonwealth Court on Tuesday said that Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association is subject to the state’s Right to Know Law.

In a 28-page opinion, the appellate court said it is “undisputed” that the PIAA, which governs high school athletics, is a state-affiliated entity and therefore subject to providing information pursuant to Pennsylvania Open Records laws.

“PIAA’s statewide control over high school athletics and the connection between the funds it receives from its members and the commonwealth’s taxpayers is sufficient such that its classification as a ‘state-affiliated entity’ for purposes of the RTKL is reasonable,” the court wrote.

PIAA’s executive director, Robert Lombardi, said he had not yet reviewed the opinion with counsel and could not comment.

The dispute was before the Commonwealth Court after PIAA filed a suit against the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, alleging that it is not a “commonwealth authority or entity,” and therefore should not be subject to the Right to Know law.

The Office of Open Records on Feb. 5, 2021, said that the PIAA was required to provide records to Simon Campbell, a Bucks County man who had submitted a 10-page request seeking, among other things:

• All monthly electronic bank statements from Dec. 1, 2013, to the time of the request.
• Independent audited financial statements in electronic form.
• The fronts of all canceled checks for all financial accounts owned or operated by PIAA between June 1, 2019, and the time of the request.

PIAA’s attorneys said the request was unreasonable and unduly burdensome. Further, PIAA argued that it is not a state-affiliated entity — that it receives no commonwealth funding or tax dollars, is not administered by state personnel and was not created by the general assembly.

But Campbell, who is known to file repeated records requests, argued that he was entitled to know where millions of dollars in taxpayer-sourced money goes at PIAA.

In its opinion, the Commonwealth Court said it is clear that the legislature included PIAA as a “state-affiliated entity” under the Right to Know Law. Of PIAA’s membership, the court wrote, roughly 86%, or 1,234 schools, are public or charter schools.

“Accordingly, PIAA is the de facto statewide regulator of high school athletics across the commonwealth,” the court said, adding that the Office of Open Records “ properly determined that PIAA is subject to the (Right to Know Law).”

Liz Wagenseller, the executive director of the Office of Open Records, said that PIAA has an enormous impact on student athletes and school districts across Pennsylvania.

“That impact justifies the PIAA’s inclusion in the law to ensure transparency over their actions,” she said.

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said most records requests are simple, straight-forward and reasonable. But, when they aren’t, she said, it does not mean they shouldn’t be fulfilled.

“Government transparency is often seen as extra work, and it is not,” she said. “It is a necessary function of government.”

Because the state Supreme Court only takes a small percentage of the cases it is asked to review, Melewsky expects that the Commonwealth Court decision, which she called well-reasoned, will stand.

She said it means that the legislature has the right to apply the Right to Know Law as it sees fit when it relates to the public good. When the law was adopted in 2008, the General Assembly listed PIAA as a state-affiliated entity, along with other agencies like the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, Game Commission, Fish and Boat Commission, Turnpike Commission, State System of Higher Education and Public Utility Commission.

“It maintains the integrity of the law with regard to these unique agencies,” Melewsky said. “The legislature wrote the law to include these organizations, for the funding they receive and the role they play in our society.”