Asked & Answered

Q: Can a city council members in CA engage in text message/emailing while deliberating over an appeal brought by an applicant (CEQA Doc) after his application failed at the planning commission level? A: If I understand correctly, you are asking whether a city council member can text or email other city council members over an issue that is formally before them. The Brown Act is violated when “a series of communications of any kind, directly

Q: I’m a  journalist at a state university where our student cafeteria came under fire from the administration over a party they’d hosted. A source told me that the student managers of the cafeteria were suspended without pay. I contacted the accounting department to request how much those students were paid per week over the past 2 months. I was referred to my school’s PR person, who said that that information  is not public record. Here’s what she told

Q: How do I go about requesting from the Police Dept. footage  taken with a hidden camera worn by one of their officers? Also if it actually wasn’t a Dept. issued body camera but either a personal or Dept. Issued cell/smart phone set up as a camera worn on the officer’s person, does that footage qualify under the Public Records Act? A: If the body camera footage was on a Police Department camera, you can request the footage by submitting

Q: I recently submitted a Public Records Act request in my city.  I have just been told that I will be charged a $33.25 fee for retrieving documents from storage.  Is this legal?  It certainly does not seem consistent with the PRA documentation I have read. A: The city may argue that charges for retrieval are based on the allowance of a “statutory fee” under Government Code § 6253(b).  However, California courts have not ruled on what constitutes a “statutory fee.” 

Q: I volunteer to help run a small community newspaper. Before we went to print on our first issue, we started receiving bashings from a political group. The leader is a teacher who used her school email to spread her hate to us. After taking up the matter with the Superintendent, things slowed down. Recently, however, this teacher admitted on Facebook that she stole this month’s issue out the school staffs’ mailboxes before teachers were able to read them. She is now