Missing Records from Request
Q: I requested information from The County Economic Council. They didn’t want to share information that would be of “us” to me, so they left out many pages that were the most important ones for me to see. They claimed that they showed me the final document, when in fact, at least 80- pages that were not proprietary were excluded. I have documentation. Can I sue under the Calif. Public Records Act? This represents a very big issue that is under the county’s jurisdiction. I need an attorney who isn’t going to give into the county or is under their influence.
A: Before suing, you might want to consider submitting a written request for access to the entire document under the California Public Records Act. A sample PRA request letter can be found on the CFAC web site at the following link: http://www.cfac.org/templates/cpraletter.html. The benefit of submitting such a request is that the County must respond in writing and, if does not give you the entire document unredacted, must cite the specific exemptions in the PRA on which it is relying for its
redactions. That will allow you and any attorney you retain to evaluate the validity (or not) of the County’s claimed exemption and any legal action.
Government Code section 6259 also allows you to sue for access by filing a verified petition for writ of mandate in the Superior Court for the County.