Question
Do you have to be a US citizen to assert rights under California’s open-government laws?
Answer
No, the rights created by CA’s access laws are not limited to citizens. Citizenship is irrelevant. Even foreign individuals and foreign corporations may assert the rights to open meetings (the Brown Act) and rights to public records (the California Public Records Act).
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.