2011

Police persuade judge to bar release of Long Beach officers’ names in shootings

A Superior Court judge has issued a TRO, temporarily barring the Long Beach police department from releasing the names of city police officers involved in police shootings. The LA Times had requested the names under the Public Records Act. Although the city had decided to release some (but not all) of the names, before it could do so the police union filed a lawsuit to block disclosure. A hearing on whether to permit Long Beach

Read More »

A&A: Double standard on publishing names of document requesters

Q. We have a unique situation here.  A Community Services District has established a policy of publishing the requesters name and what records they are asking for in both the minutes and agenda. This is done to bring public attention on who is requesting records. These individuals are now being harassed for making these requests. Additionally, several other members of the public get copies of documents directly from a director, which is not published…so there

Read More »

A&A: University claims to have a year to respond to document requests

Q. The Public Affairs director at the local State University claims that he can take four months to a year to respond with public records. This needs to be resolved as he is routinely months late with responses. A. The Public Records Act gives local agencies 10 days to respond to a request for a copy of a public record; the time for responding can be extended by the agency for an additional 14 days

Read More »

A&A: Brown Act or Bylaws Violation?

Q: If a standing committee’s bylaws stipulate that two meetings will occur in a certain period of time, and there is no quorum present for one of the two meetings, is the committee obligated to schedule another meeting to remain Brown Act compliant? A: This might be an overly technical response, but I’m not sure violating a committee’s own bylaws by failing to hold the specified number of meetings would be a Brown Act violation.

Read More »

A&A: Are Special Districts covered by Brown Act, CPRA?

Q: I’m trying to track down the California law that authorizes special districts. It almost seems as if once in place and appointed, the dependent districts fall off the radar and don’t want to be known about or have their actions/inactions challenged. The one I’m battling seems to have never heard of the Brown Act or the California Public Records Act, to name just two. A: My review of the Government Code shows that there

Read More »