Q: Tricky CPRA question regarding photos taken during a study undertaken by an an applicant for a California Energy Commission license. The company submitted a report, but CEC staff had many questions, and wanted photos, notes, data from the study, and to speak with the biologist who conducted it; staff requested a subpoena for the [...]
A&A: Does the CPRA allow use of iPhone to photograph public records?
Q: The County Recorders Office prohibits the use of hand scanners or digital cameras in its Public Documents room and requires researchers to purchase document copies from them. Is this restriction legal ? A: The California Public Records Act (CPRA), in pertinent part, only requires that an agency’s records be “open for inspection”, Govt. Code [...]
A&A:Does the CPRA allow access to mug shots?
Q: Reporters in our news organization deal with several police departments who routinely deny requests for suspect mug shots. Most recently, a mug shot of a driver in a fatal hit and run case was requested As they always do, the police department denied our request for the mug shot and offered this standard reasoning [...]
FAC lawsuit leads to model CPRA policy for dot-gov email
Auburn and San Jose are the first cities in California to adopt policies acknowledging the public’s right of access to city officials’ emails about government business–regardless of the kind of email accounts used to send or receive those emails. Emails have long been covered by the California’s Public Records Act (PRA), which treats paper records [...]
A&A: Who can request documents under the CPRA?
Q: Does the California Public Records Act require residency in California to access documents or are they available to visitors from out of state? Does the CPRA provide a request process? If so, is it mandatory? A: Your first question asks whether governmental agencies in California need comply with the Public Records act when the request [...]
A&A:City says building plans can be viewed but not copied
Q: The city attorney is citing the Health and Safety Code Section 19851 to support the city’s denial of copying building plans submitted to the city and on the planning commission agenda and council agenda but not yet approved. He says that until building plans are approved, they are the architect’s property and can be [...]
CPRA case wins release of officers’ names in UC Davis pepper-spraying
The names of the UC Davis police officers who pepper sprayed students’ faces during protests last spring were ordered released by an Alameda County Superior Court judge Tuesday. The lawsuit was filed by the Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee against the UC Regents last month under the California Public Records Act to compel release [...]
Cartoon critiques FAC’s email access case against Auburn City Council
Auburn Journal cartoonist Andy Lukkonen suggests that shady business is immune to sunshine in this critique of FAC’s case to gain access to emails discussing public business sent via public officials’ personal email accounts. We’ll concede he makes a good point, which is, of course, why FAC fights on. Read more about the case here.
A&A: Can a city assert a copyright claim to a public document?
Q: Can a city assert a copyright claim to a public document, in this case a short documentary produced by its cable access television department? I’m being told no, in California a government entity cannot assert a copyright claim to this video produced at taxpayer expense without the express authorization of the legislature (County of [...]
How to sabotage California’s Public Records Act
By 1stamendmnt • October 15, 2012 • Commentary, News & Opinion • 2 Comments
By Peter Scheer—If you were looking for a way to sabotage America’s freedom-of-information laws, you couldn’t do much better than a legal strategy being pursued by government entities in two California towns. The public school district of Willows, in Glenn County, and the town of Sebastopol, near Petaluma, have been sued, in unrelated cases, for [...]