B E F OR E H EOFFICE OPENRECORDS T OF PENNSYLVANIA F O l N R E : A P P E A L FS C O T T E I N O U R Docket#AP 2412-1329

ME MORANDUM LAW OF ("Feinour") ("Township") submitted requestl LynnTownship ScottFeinour a to Smitlt's Statement Financial Justin of lnterest Form(without seeking redaction) the for y e a r2 A1 1.T h eT o w n sh i g ra n te d, par t, in p anddenied, pafi,the r equest. in The granted request Township the uponits belief thatthe Statement Financial of Interest Formis a public record.Howevef, denied, paft,the request redacting it in portions by of the Statement Financial of Interest Formuponits belief thattheycontained personal a telephone number and personal financial information, defined 65 P.S.Seciion as in 67.102, therefore and wereexempt fromaccess under65 P.S.Section 67.708(bX6XiXA). specific The information redacted werea personal telephone (Box2), information number concerning creditors JustinSmith(Box9) and his of financial interest any legalentityin business profit in (Box14). for Records a localagency, presumed be "public" of are to unless:(1)the record is exentpt underSection 708;(2)the record protected a privilege; (3)the record is by or is exempt fromdisclosure underanyotherFederal Statelaur regulation judicial or or or

' Feinour submitted threesintilar requests the Township and responded similarly eachcase in Feinour appealed threedecisions, has all whichare indexed AP 2012-1329, 20'12-1330, at AP andAP 2012-1331.

67.305.Section 708(b) the RTKLexempts of orderor decree.See65 P.S.Section including following: fromaccess a requester, by the cerlainrecords personal (6Xi)Thefollouring information: identification (A) containing or partof a person's A record all Social Secr-rrity number, personal driver's license number, financial inforrnation, horne, personal cellular personal or telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, enrployee personal number otherconfidential or identification number.

The term"personalfinancial information" defined Section is in 67.102 the RTKLas of "an individual's personal credit, clrarge debitcardinformation, or bankaccount irrfonnation; account bank information; bank,credit financial or statements: account or i per PI Nn u m be rs n do th e r n fo rma ti on a r elating an individual' s sonalfinances. to In priorrulings, OORhasdefined term"personal the the financial information" to include information showsthe assets, earnings that net fromall sources and debtsof an individual. Kadluboski Citwide Towinq Cityof Wiles-Barre LAGTransporl and vs. and lnc.,No,AP 2012-0268; Campbell Berwick vs. AreaSchool District, AP 2009-0212. No. (collecting examples personal of financial information include to creditors financial and interest a business). in Because personal the telephone nunrber Justin of Smith, and his creditors financial interest a legalentity business profit and in in for constitute personal financial information, of whicharespecifically all exernpt fromaccess a by pursuant 65 P.S.67.708(bXOXiXA), Township requester to the granted, par1, correctly in a n d d e n i e di,n p a rt, e i n o u r's q u est. F re In his appeal, Feinour doesnot claimthattheTownship incorrectly citedthe provisions redacting portion the Statement Financial exemption for a of of Interest Form.

He contends, however, the redaction "inconsistent the Legislature's that is with intent of boththe RTKLand the StaieEthics Act". As for the RTKL, nothing couldbe further fromthetruth. lt specifically carved designated out exemptions frompublic access, and the exemption forthin 65 P.S.Section set 67.708(bX6XiXA) is applicable here. As for t h e S t a t e t h i c s A c F,e i n o u r c i t e s c t i o n 1 1 2 o t h a t A c t , 6 5 a .C . S .1 1 0 2w h i c h E t Se 1 f P , notesthatif the provisions its chapter of conflict withany otherstatute, ordinance, regulation rule,the provisions thischapter or of shallcontrol.However, closereading a of the RTKLandthe StateEthics showsthatthestatutes not in conflict Act are withone another.The StateEthics states Act thatthe Statement Financial of Interest Formare public records, whereas RTKLspecifically the exempts portions the Statement certain of of Financial lnterest Fornr fromaccess a requester. to Underprinciples statutory of construction, specific provisions the RTKL,beingadopted the of morerecenlyby the Legislature, restricting public and access certain to inforrnation, prevail overthe qeneral provisions contained the stateEthics in Act. 1 pa. c,s. section1936. Forall of the foregoing reasons, Feinour's appeal should disrnissed. be

A u q u s t1 7 , 2 A 1 2 DATE

/s/ Mar cS. Fisher . Fsquir e MARC .FISHER, SQUIRE S E p.C, WorIh, Magee& Fisher, 2610Walbert Avenue Allentown, 18104 PA ( 610) 437- 4896 l . D N o .3 6 7 1 1 Attorney Respondent, for LynnTor,vnship