You, local citizen, have the right to know what is happening in government. That is the public awareness campaign of National Sunshine Week, which is March 16-22 this year.

"Sunshine is a week to highlight and promote the issue of transparency and accountability in government,” Liz Wagenseller said, executive director of Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records.

Pennsylvania groups and officials hosted several events this week, most focusing on two key American citizen rights— access to government meetings and access to government records.

Government meetings—from your school board to federal agencies—must be open to public observation.

“You have a right to watch your elected officials make decisions, and speak up about the decision that is going to be made before they make it,” Wagenseller said.

This right comes from the federal Government in Sunshine Act, which was passed in 1976. Many states have their own version of the law.

The laws do lay out some exceptions, like someone's personal privacy being at jeopardy. The legal default for meetings though is they be advertised to the public, the meeting agenda be made known to the public, and then the meeting itself open to public attendance.

As a personal experience of putting this right to use, Wagenseller described how in her town, there was a proposal to build a Chick-Fil-A on a busy intersection. Concerns about traffic pushed citizens to action.

“The typically sleepy little township meetings ended up being full of people who vocalized their concerns,” Wagenseller said, "and the township ended up not approving the project.”

The second government transparency right discussed a lot in National Sunshine Week is public record access.

“You have a right to access a lot of government records,” Wagenseller said.

Emails, meeting notes, business inspections, construction contracts—the federal Freedom of Information Act, and similar state laws, assume government records are public records.

The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records has forms you can fill out to request local and state data. New York State has a similar website and system.

“It is a very simple form. For free. You fill it out and you say, I would like these records. And the agency must respond to you and provide a reason why they're granting or not granting access,” Wagenseller said.

These laws, like the Sunshine Act, also have exceptions. A request can be too vague for an agency to fulfill— it is, at the end of the day, a person who searches through emails and transcripts and files to pull the requested information. They often have dozens of requests besides yours to process, so limits keep the system rolling.

In a panel earlier this week, Scott Coburn— the Counsel and Education Director for the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors— reminded filers and agencies that it’s okay to pick up the phone and call each other.

“I think a lot of the disputes that happen under the Right to Know Law could just be addressed by some common sense, healthy back and forth between the requesters and the agencies,” Coburn said.

Volume is not the only exception requesters might run into though. Things from personal privacy to trade secrets might let an agency deny a request, or heavily redact it.

Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel at the Pennsylvania News Media Association, said exceptions are not mandatory; on government meetings or government records.

"Even though there’s exceptions that allow private sessions or denials— the agency doesn't have to do that,” Melewsky said. "These are not confidentiality laws. They are public access laws. They set the floor for public access, not the ceiling.

Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records has extensive resources on how to navigate the request system. Muckrock is another commonly used public resource.

When you, citizen, attend meetings or request records— you keep government accountable.

“Being loud and making your voice heard can really make a huge impact on what happens,” Wagenseller said.