Legal Focus

As you will recall, in 2012 the Pennsylvania Legislature considered a variety of changes to Pennsylvania’s existing wiretap law, 18 Pa.C.S. § 5703. The existing statue, commonly regarded as the most restrictive in the nation, devotes most of its text to law enforcement’s use of wiretaps and provides criminal and civil remedies for violations. The risk of enforcement against a school bus contractor is an unintended result of that statue. While certain changes to Pennsylvania’s wiretap law wer...

Many school bus contractors are faced with the Pennsylvania wiretap law dilemma. That is, school districts contractually or informally require video and audio taping on school buses for the purpose of enhancing student safety and addressing student discipline issues. But, audio taping is prohibited by Pennsylvania statutes and case law. The current statutes even impose criminal and civil penalties for violators. School officials point to specific examples of local law enforcement’s refusal to p...