Pennsylvania 2025-2026 Regular Session Status: In Committee Bipartisan · 7 D · 1 R cosponsors

HB 868 — An Act amending the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-to-Know Law, in procedure, further providing for exceptions for public records; and, in judicial review, further providing for fee limitations.

Last action — Referred to Intergovernmental Affairs & Operations

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. 2
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed House
  4. 4
    Passed Senate
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill is in committee in the House. Introduced March 11, 2025. It must pass committee before a floor vote.

Next likely step: a committee vote, then a floor vote in the House.

Prognosis

Advancing 42% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

Low

How often bills like it became law.

  • In Committee

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 8 sponsors

    1 primary, 7 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Bipartisan support

    Sponsored across 2 parties (7 D · 1 R) — cross-party backing.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Bill Text

How this bill changes current law

4 changes Share ↗

AI-generated reading aid from the bill's amendatory text — verify against the official bill.

The bill introduces new exceptions for public records and modifies fee limitations for access to public information in Pennsylvania.

  • Section 708(b)

    (31) Records that are reasonably burdensome in their scope for an agency to produce.

    This change adds a new exception to public records that allows agencies to refuse requests if fulfilling them would be too burdensome.

  • Section 1307(h)

    An agency may require a requester to prepay an estimate of the fees authorized under this section if the fees required to fulfill the request are expected to exceed $100 in accordance with subsection (i).

    This change allows agencies to require prepayment of estimated fees for requests exceeding $100.

  • Section 1307(i)(1)

    An agency shall be permitted to charge reasonable fees, in addition to other fees authorized by this act, for the processing of records requests which are intended for use by for-profit entities or for-profit activities.

    This change permits agencies to charge additional fees for processing requests from for-profit entities.

  • Section 1307(i)(2)

    Newspapers, magazines, broadcast outlets and similar organizations shall be exempt from the fee provided in paragraph (1).

    This change exempts certain media organizations from the additional fees for for-profit entity requests.

Action History

  1. Referred to Intergovernmental Affairs & Operations

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 7 co-sponsors · 245 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (7)

Not signed on (245)

245 members have not signed on to this bill.

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"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

civil-rights elections
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

Who sponsors HB 868?
HB 868 is sponsored by Patrick J. Harkins (Democratic), Joe McAndrew (Democratic), Jose Giral (Democratic), Carol Hill-Evans (Democratic), Scott Conklin (Democratic), Benjamin V. Sanchez (Democratic), Melissa Cerrato (Democratic), and Steven C. Mentzer (Republican).
What is the current status of HB 868?
This bill is in committee in the House. Introduced March 11, 2025. It must pass committee before a floor vote.
Where can I track HB 868?
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Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

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