One of the most frequent complaints FAC hears from people seeking records under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) is that government agencies simply ignore the law’s requirement that the government respond to a request within a certain time frame. One reason government agencies do this is that there is very little cost to doing so: Although strict timelines are mandated by the CPRA, that law provides no specific penalties for delay.
Assembly Bill 1479 would impose monetary penalties on agencies that unreasonably delay in responding to requests. It would also impose monetary penalties for “unreasonable” fees charged to records requesters. FAC supports this much needed-bill. Read our letter of support below.