Naturalization records
Q: Are California naturalization certificates (mainly pre-1906) available to the public to see and copy?
Sonoma and Santa Barbara counties only let the public see index cards containing names and dates.
A: Under the California Public Records Act (“PRA”), the public has a right to inspect and obtain copies of documents collected or maintained by state or local agencies. The PRA requires agencies to provide you with the documents requested, or notify you that your request has been denied, within 10 days. (Gov’t Code § 6253). If the written request is denied, the agency is obligated to back its denial by citing an exemption in the PRA or other state or federal law allowing it to withhold the records you seek. (Gov’t code § 6255). It sounds like you may have already requested from the Santa Barbara and Sonoma county offices to inspect and/or copy the naturalization certificates, and that they have only provided you with index cards containing limited information about those records. What is not clear is whether the county offices have cited any applicable PRA exemption or other authority to justify the denial of the actual naturalization certificates. If they have not, you may want to submit a second request for those records and clarify to them that you would like to see (or get copies of) the actual certificates. It may be that those records do not exist given that they are pre-1906 records. However, if they do exist, they have a legal obligation to cite an exemption in the PRA or other state or federal law justifying their denial. A sample PRA request is available on CFAC’s website at: http://www.cfac.org/templates/cpraletter.html.