On November 24, 2025, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overruled the Commonwealth Court in Coleman v. Parkland School District and found that the 2021 Sunshine Act amendments established four distinct exceptions to the limit on an agency’s ability to take official action on items not listed on a meeting agenda pursuant to the 24-hour notice rule. 

In 2021, the General Assembly amended the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, 65 Pa.C.S. §§ 701-716, to require agencies to post meeting agendas at least 24 hours in advance of a scheduled public meeting, and placed restrictions on the ability to add new items to a meeting agenda, if those items were not on the publicly available meeting agenda at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

The Sunshine Act amendments provided four exceptions to the requirement that items be listed on a publicly available agenda before an agency was permitted to take public action:

1. An agency may take official action on a matter of agency business relating to a real or potential emergency involving a clear and present danger to life or property (§ 712.1(b)).
2. An agency may take official action on a matter if the matter arises or is brought to the attention of the agency within the 24-hour period prior to the meeting and the matter is de minimis in nature and does not involve the expenditure of funds or entering into a contract or agreement by the agency (§ 712.1(c)).
3. An agency may take official action on a matter brought by a resident or taxpayer that was not listed on the meeting agenda, in order to refer the matter to staff, if applicable, for the purpose of researching the matter for inclusion on the agenda of a future meeting, or, if the matter is de minimis in nature and does not involve the expenditure of funds or entering into a contract or agreement (§ 712.1(d)).
4. Upon majority vote of the individuals present and voting during the conduct of a meeting, an agency may add a matter of agency business to the meeting agenda. The reasons for the changes to the agenda shall be announced before any vote takes place. If the vote receives majority approval, the agency may subsequently take official action on the added matter. The agency shall post the amended agenda on the agency’s publicly accessible Internet website, if available, and at the agency’s principal office location no later than the first business day following the meeting at which the agenda was changed (§ 712.1(e))

Following the 2021 amendments to the Sunshine Act, the Commonwealth Court opined that subsection (e) was not an independent exception, rather it could only be invoked if one of the other three exceptions were satisfied.

In its Coleman decision, the Supreme Court overruled what it classified as the Commonwealth Court’s “textually unsustainable view” of the Sunshine Act and its 2021 amendment and held the fourth exception stands on its own to permit agencies to vote to add matters to the official meeting agenda and then take action on those newly-added agenda items at that public meeting.

Following this decision, agencies should remain diligent in complying with the specific requirements of § 712.1 of the Sunshine Act by making the meeting agenda publicly available at least 24 hours prior to the meeting and ensure that, even for items added to the agenda during the meeting, the public is given an opportunity to comment before official action is taken. If you have questions regarding the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s recent Coleman decision or the Sunshine Act generally, please contact Jonah Markle, Dan Desmond, or any member of Barley Snyder’s Municipal Law Industry Group.