SB 431 — An Act amending the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-to-Know Law, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions; and, in procedure, providing for acceptable denials.

PRINTER'S NO.   465

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                        SENATE BILL
                        No. 431
                                               Session of
                                                 2025

     INTRODUCED BY PENNYCUICK, BROWN, BARTOLOTTA, CULVER, KEARNEY,
        BAKER, MILLER, STEFANO AND DUSH, MARCH 21, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY, MARCH 21, 2025


                                     AN ACT
 1   Amending the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), entitled
 2      "An act providing for access to public information, for a
 3      designated open-records officer in each Commonwealth agency,
 4      local agency, judicial agency and legislative agency, for
 5      procedure, for appeal of agency determination, for judicial
 6      review and for the Office of Open Records; imposing
 7      penalties; providing for reporting by State-related
 8      institutions; requiring the posting of certain State contract
 9      information on the Internet; and making related repeals," in
10      preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
11      and, in procedure, providing for acceptable denials.
12      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
13   hereby enacts as follows:
14      Section 1.    Section 102 of the act of February 14, 2008
15   (P.L.6, No.3), known as the Right-to-Know Law, is amended by
16   adding definitions to read:
17   Section 102.    Definitions.
18      The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
19   have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
20   context clearly indicates otherwise:
21      * * *
22      "Artificial intelligence."    A machine-based system that can,
 1   for a given set of explicit or implicit objectives, make
 2   predictions, content, recommendations or decisions influencing
 3   real or virtual environments, including the ability to:
 4            (1)   perceive real and virtual environments;
 5            (2)   abstract perceptions made under paragraph (1) into
 6      models through analysis in an automated manner; and
 7            (3)   use model inference to formulate options for
 8      information or action based on outcomes under paragraphs (1)
 9      and (2).
10      * * *
11      "Generative artificial intelligence."    The class of models
12   that emulate the structure and characteristics of input data in
13   order to generate derived synthetic content, including
14   information such as images, videos, audio clips or text that has
15   been significantly modified or generated by algorithms,
16   including by artificial intelligence.
17      * * *
18      Section 2.    The act is amended by adding a section to read:
19   Section 709.    Acceptable denials.
20      (a)   Requests submitted by electronic means.--An agency may
21   deny a records request submitted by electronic means if any of
22   the following apply:
23            (1)   The agency's open-records officer or information
24      technology professional reasonably believes that downloading
25      attached documents or accessing hyperlinks within the request
26      could pose a cybersecurity risk to the agency's network. This
27      paragraph shall not be construed to conflict with an agency
28      receiving or accepting a request under section 505(a).
29            (2)   The agency has reasonable suspicion that the request
30      was automatically generated by a computer program, script,

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1      artificial intelligence or generative artificial
2      intelligence.
3      (b)   Appeal.--A requester may appeal a denial issued under
4   subsection (a) as provided under Chapter 11.
5      Section 3.   This act shall take effect in 60 days.




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