Response times to CPRA requests
Q: I served a PRA request on the district on April 6. The schools were closed for the week of April 9-12 for spring break, and the 10th was a district holiday. During 9-12, the district offices were “closed to the public” but numerous employees, including administrators, were working. On April 10, a response was sent to me telling me that the 10 days would commence on April 16, when the district resumed “official business.” I responded that the matter was 10 calendar days, not business days. The request was hand delivered and stamped received on April 6. My question is under these various circs, when is the 10th day? Also, I am requesting all procedures implementing Civil Code Section 56.20(a). Does that mean that these “records” are or must be available for inspection during the time that the office is open for public business, notwithstanding the 10 days compliance under the PRA since these are or should be active records?
A: Under the state’s Public Record Act (“PRA”), there is a difference between inspection of public records and a written PRA request for a copy of those records.
Per Government Code section 6253, public records “are open to inspection at all times during the office hours” of the governmental entity that has the records.
Per Government Code section 6256, the district has 10 days to respond to a written request for “a copy” of public records. That section does not say “10 working days,” as the district reads it, and thus the district’s reading appears to be wrong. In fact, in section 6256.1, the PRA provides that the district may take an extension of up to “10 working days” to respond in certain unusual circumstances, so if the legislature had intended the 10-day response period to be 10 working days instead of 10 calendar days it would have used similar language.