I will soon introduce legislation exempting volunteer fire and EMS non-government agencies from the requirements of the Commonwealth’s Right-to-Know Law to alleviate the time-consuming pressures impacting our volunteer companies.

The Right-to-Know Law requires state and local agencies, the legislative body, and our courts to provide the public with certain records upon their request. Under the current law, small organizations, including our volunteer fire and EMS companies, are subject to the same requirements. For such small organizations, especially those organizations without paid employees, it proves to be exceptionally difficult and time-consuming to comply with the requirements outlined in the Right-to-Know Law.

This is not even accounting for repeated requests or requests for documentation spanning multiple years. This was previously Recommendation #26 in the commission report resulting from SR 6 of 2018 where the commission emphasized the burden Right-to-Know requests can place on our volunteer fire and EMS companies. I know this stress is felt by companies within my own district.

With that, this legislation will amend the Right-to-Know Law to exempt volunteer fire and EMS non-government agencies from its requirements, and finally institute the legislative change recommended in the 2018 report. I urge my colleagues to join me in co-sponsoring this measure to alleviate some strain from our volunteer fire and EMS companies.