![]() ![]() Nor did the trust offer any legal justification for the private meetings when later contacted by Spotlight PA and WESA. “If the public is cut off from the committee process, they are also cut off from the majority of the deliberations and denied the opportunity to provide public comment as committee recommendations take shape,” Melewsky added.Īt a public meeting of the trust in February, when chair Tom VanKirk proposed this plan, he acknowledged members would meet in private in small groups and said it was “proper under the Sunshine Act.” But he offered no further explanation during the meeting of why it was allowed by the law. “To try to subvert that through a working committee I think is inappropriate - and I think, quite frankly, it’s sad.”Ĭommittees often work on specific issues, and their recommendations to their full board are often adopted without further discussion or change, said Melissa Bevan Melewsky, media law counsel of the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, of which Spotlight PA is a member. “There is no wiggle room,” Terry Mutchler, an attorney and former executive director of the state Office of Open Records, told Spotlight PA and WESA. ![]() The president of the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition and two attorneys who specialize in transparency laws said these smaller group meetings should be public. Members of the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust will meet in private working groups, according to a plan proposed by the trust chair, and then be responsible for submitting recommendations to the full board to consider. But members of a trust that oversees county spending are preparing to first review the information in secret, despite a court order requiring the trust to follow the state's Sunshine Act. HARRISBURG - Counties will soon have to report how they spent millions of dollars they received from the first rounds of opioid settlement payments in Pennsylvania. Please contact us online or call our Cincinnati office directly at 51 to schedule your free consultation.Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Adams is recognized by Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America, National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and is one of U.S. If you are facing criminal charges, you need to speak with an experienced criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. Are you or someone you know facing criminal charges? If you know, and even have proof, that you could not have been where the government says you were, then you have a viable alibi defense that may serve as a complete defense to the drug charges against you. Then, you can begin putting together where you were on that date and time. Therefore, by requesting a bill of particulars, you and your attorney can know when the act happened. You and your attorney cannot begin to put an alibi together without knowing when the government is claiming you committed the drug offense. The “when” aspect of a bill of particulars is very important especially if you claim that you did not commit the offense.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |