Asked & Answered

Q: I am requesting records from multiple agencies. and meeting with resistance and run around.  In one case, my request passed through three agencies until I was finally told that a response would be forthcoming in 90 days.  I questioned the 90 days and below was a response from there legal dept. “Government Code 6253(c) also states that when a state agency makes a determination that it has disclosable public records, that “the agency shall state

Q: I have an outstanding PRA request to the county regarding ongoing litigation. The applicant of the project at issue in litigation changed in 2011. The County asserts they do not have the documents from the the previous applicant but that they can be purchased from a third party consulting firm for $2,000. My question is: who bears the cost to obtain the documents when the agency has lost or is missing the documents? A:

Q:  I’m trying to find out if a public cable access station has the right to censor the content of a show airing on community public cable access channels. To be more specific, there is a disclaimer at the start of the show stating that “the opinions and viewpoints are not of staff or management.” The show is a sports show. They are threatening to suspend its host and airing because they claimed that a caller

Q:  I am part of a coalition of anti-illegal immigration activists. We have been protesting and attending City Council meetings because they appointed two illegal aliens to city commissions. When we attend city council meetings they can get raucous. At a June meeting, our group and those activists supporting illegal immigration were sequestered in the city hall lobby and told that we would only be allowed admittance after the ceremonial presentations. After those presentations were done,

A: Are elected officials allowed to sit in the audience while acting in their official capacity during meetings? Q: California has a number of laws addressing government meetings, including the Brown Act (which covers the legislative bodies of local agencies), the Bagley-Keene Act (which covers state executive agencies), and the Grunsky-Burton Open Meeting Act, which covers the State Legislature. If the elected official is a member of the legislative body of a local agency, then the Brown