Advocacy

FAC Opposes AB 1821

April 9, 2026
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UPDATE: On June 25, Asm. Pacheco introduced amendments removing the most damaging provisions.

UPDATE: On June 23, FAC and large coalition sent this letter opposing the expanded version of AB 1821.

ALERT:  AB 1821 took dramatic amendments on June 10, expanding the harms of the bill. As amended, this legislation is a major attack on transparency in California and FAC is strongly opposed.

FAC opposes AB 1821, a bill that would frustrate public access to information by giving government agencies more time to provide initial responses to anyone seeking information under the California Public Records Act. That initial response does not require agencies to produce records. It simply requires them to say whether they have responsive records and whether those records will be disclosed or withheld. AB 1821 would allow government agencies to delay this straightforward, threshold communication, undermining the CPRA’s core promise of prompt transparency.

The bill was even more detrimental to transparency in its original form, which would have imposed high fees on records requesters. Amid mounting opposition, the author amended it to remove the fee provisions but is moving forward with the bill that would slow down the request process.

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