Asked & Answered

Public official’s email communications Q: Background: the superintendent of schools has sent a number of e-mails to the school board in the past few weeks saying that these e-mails are confidential. My educated guess is that they deal with one case of a gun being found in a student’s backpack and another case of near-campus melee that resulted in the arrest of 4 juveniles.Are these e-mails public records? Must they be released if they contain

Public official salaries and the CPRA Q: I’d like to find information on executive salaries for public utility organizations (SMUD, LADWP, WAPA and NCPA).  Can you advise me if these are publicly available records and if so, what’s the best way to obtain them might be? A: The California Public Records Act exempts certain information from disclosure on the basis of personal privacy. (Govt. Code s. 6254(c)). Some public agencies have relied on this exemption

Duplication fees for non-paper records Q: Our School District Board/Superintendent is charging for labor costs of making a CD copy of each monthly/special board meeting. I understand that the Cal. Gov\’t. Code Section 6253(b) indicates that such charges (i.e., labor costs for recording the CD copy) is not permitted. I have been round and round with the Board/Superintendent about these excessive charges for the past year. They say that the District Counsel has supported them

Obtaining records without fees? Q: How do I obtain a public record if I can not afford the price due to economic problems? Can the S.F.P.D refuse to give me the records in electronic from? A: The Public Records Act (PRA) does not include a specific provision for waiving or reducing fees for copies requested under the Act.  California courts have decided, however, that agencies do have the discretion to waive or reduce fees.  See