Asked & Answered

CPRA fees and information in electronic form Q: Responding to a request for copies of all messages, emails from council members laptops to each other, especially during the periods of council meetings for the last two months, the city has responded thusly:Pursuant to the California Public Records Act Government Code 6253.9 b. 2 the following fees are associated with fulfilling your request: Contract Staff time to extract stored email ($45/hr x35 hrs) = $1,575.00 Recall

Requesting electronic trial court records Q: I am trying to access a criminal court’s calendar for a 3 month period of time in 2004. Is there is a different public records request when trying to access information from the courts? A: Pursuant to the California Rules of Court regarding public access to electronic trial court records, you can request bulk distribution of a California Superior Court’s electronic calendar, register of actions, and index for criminal

Duplication costs and “search fees” Q: I recently filed a request with a number of local health departments in California for copies of the last two routine health inspection reports for certain restaurants in their respective jurisdictions. Several of these jurisdictions have sent me invoices which include “search” fees. For example, I filed a request with a Health Dept, and they sent me an email detailing a $29 search fee and $2 in copying costs.

Investigative and disciplinary records pertaining to police officers Q: I requested information from the Police Department on an elder abuse investigation in the community. Through my open records request I was hoping to determine why the detective assigned to investigate, arbitrarily dismissed the case. The department gave no reason. I also asked whether there was any disciplinary action ever taken against the detective. But the department has declined to respond to my request. A: Under