Asked & Answered

Q: I have received a FOIA response with 50 percent of the content redacted, which constitutes excessive censorship. U.S. General Services Administration is not a DoD agency nor an intelligence agency. Therefore, GSA excessive redaction rendering the received FOIA response illegible and useless. A: As you are aware, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, is a federal open records act that provides a mechanism to gain access to public records.  The FOIA requires

Q: I am inquiring whether agencies can charge you to inspect e-mails or get copies of e-mails based on Government Code section 6253.9(b)?  Are they allowed to use rule of cost to construct a record, and the cost of programming and computer services necessary to produce a copy of the record, for the charging of e-mails either to inspect them or get copies of them? A: Yes, fees may be charged for obtaining a copy an

Q:  We are trying to obtain the names of applicants for board vacancies, not the applications themselves or the information they contain, which seems to be covered by the California First Amendment Coalition v. Superior Court (Wilson) 1998. Voters in November authorized the District to turn operation of the hospital over to a nonprofit corporation, which will consist of hospital district directors, the chief of the medical staff, and three appointees. The hospital board is

Q: We are a very small grassroots committee to save the last low-income affordable housing in our area. Briefly, our local planning board has conducted its meetings without recording them thereby denying basic access to the public. On July 5 with at least 200 in attendance, the Board voted 9-5-1 to send a proposal forward. People in front requested a roll call vote but the Chair asked for a quick vote by hand. As of today,

Q: I recently attended a board meeting of the Grossmont Healthcare District. A staff person from the Sharp Grossmont Hospital gave a 15 min. update/report on several topics hospital (e.g., new employee and medical staff satisfaction surveys/results–and patient satisfaction regarding emergency dept. and inpatient services on different floors of hospital. At the end of the hospital staff person’s pptI asked if a copy would be available for the audience. The response from the District CEO was