Asked & Answered

Q: The High School District board stopped taking minutes at their meetings? Can they do that under the Brown Act? A: The Brown Act is silent on legislative bodies’ duties with respect to taking notes or keeping minutes of meetings.  Typically, such requirements would be found in a legislative body’s bylaws, or possibly an ordinance that governs the legislative body (though since this is a school district, it is unlikely that such requirements would be found

Q: I am researching a decades-old murder.  I have spoken with the DA’s Chief Inspector about the case and he is unwilling to share any information with me whatsoever. Therefore, my only real recourse is to attempt to secure relevant files, videos, pictures, coroner’s report, police report, and notes the information via a FOIA request. That having been said, I am not sure who I should approach with my request. Should I send it to the AG’s office,

Q: Six months ago I filed a CPRA request to view my case file and receive the information which is to be provided to victims of crimes. I received files in which the “witness” names were redacted but no written notification as to why the names were redacted or what I might be able to do in order to see the names (the “witnesses” were people who had possession on my laptop as such they

Q: I’m involved in a research project on the history of the city in which I live. To ensure the accuracy of my research, I have requested general information from the police department on several criminal cases from the 1970s and ’80s. This information pertains to the who, what, when, where, etc. of the cases I’m researching. Based on my reading of Government Code Section 6254(f), the information I’m requesting is not investigatory in nature and