Asked & Answered

Q: I am working on a story about a consultant’s work for a California County. I was told recently that the Board of Supervisors heard a report in closed session last month on a pilot project the consultant had done. This has been a sensitive issue so I can understand why they’d want to hear the report privately, but I also can’t see any Brown Act exemption that would actually justify them doing it in

Q: I’d like to obtain an incident report from the police department and they have denied the request. What can I do to access the report? A: If you made a Public Records Act request for the incident report, the police agency here should have cited a valid exemption that applies to the report that would justify its nondisclosure.  If the police have not cited any exemption, you might want to write back and press them

Q: In California, ambulance providers can use a Federal program administer through the DHS (Dept. of Health Care Services) to receive partial reimbursement for Medi-Cal patient ambulance transport. I made a public records request regarding these payments. Today they sent me an e-mail stating they are invoking the right to withhold the financial data related to State Plan Amendment 18-007 under the privilege for trade secrets pursuant to California Government Code section 6254(k) in conjunction

Q: We have a City Council unfamiliar it seems with the First Amendment. The most recent proposal is to order the police to “resist” public records act requests for certain booking photos. The local journalist here is standing pretty much alone. My interest is only concerned citizen. I just looking for the ammunition to be an involved citizen, and resist the order to resist. A: I’m sorry to hear the city council is attempting to limit the

Q: I requested a copy of a contract, between my community and a towing company base in a neighboring city, but never received a response. A: Under California’s Public Records Act, “‘[p]ublic records’ includes any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics,” Gov’t Code section 6252(e) – and must be disclosed upon request unless a specific