Question
I am dealing with a building contractor in California. I have made several requests as to where the corporations licenses are posted for public review and the hours. The corporation refuses to respond. Any suggestions?
Answer
Under the California Public Records Act, Govt. Code section 6250 et seq., records in the possession of state or local public agencies are presumed public unless an exemption to disclosure applies. Although a corporation is not a public agency and thus would not be subject to the PRA (and would not be required to respond to your inquiries), you can likely obtain the information you are seeking from the Offices of the California Secretary of State, which probably retains copies of corporate licenses. If for some reason the Secretary of State doesn’t maintain corporate licenses, they can probably point you to another state or local government office that maintains such licenses.
Certain information is available on the Secretary of State’s website (see link below); other information can be obtained by making an oral or written request to the Secretary of State’s offices.
Asked & Answered posts should not be relied on as legal advice, and FAC makes no guarantees about their completeness or accuracy. All posts carry a date of publication that readers should take note of in assessing their usefulness, given that laws and interpretations of them may change over time. Posts predating Jan. 1, 2023, that discuss the California Public Records Act may contain statute numbers no longer in use. Please see this page for a table showing how the California Public Records Act has been renumbered.