Search

Categories

Total Results

No Record Found

View All Results
DONATE

Asked & Answered

A&A: 1st amendment right to porn denied by senior center

FAC June 10, 2013

Q: My local city-run senior center censors books, magazines, films, internet and bulletin-board postings. Though it is a senior center, they pretend to have the right to ban pornography or whatever they deem ”inappropriate.” As a senior citizen, I say I have the right to full internet access, to put off-color books, magazines and films in the library, and to communicate anything legal on the bulletin boards. I hold that pornography is perfectly legal for

Read More »

A&A: CPRA request denied for city employee’s college grades

FAC June 7, 2013

Q: The City has an employee reimbursement education program for college credits. Part of the city’s requirement for reimbursement is a minimum C grade. I made a public records request for the elected City Clerk and I’m told her grades are confidential by some Federal Statute. She has objected to my obtaining this information. Is she protected from disclosure? A: The Federal Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 USC section 1232g; 34 CFR Part

Read More »

A&A: Publishing a photo showing license plate numbers

FAC June 6, 2013

Q: While walking across a parking lot at an elementary school site, I noticed a car that had been parked in the same place for several minutes. There were two 8 x 11 inched sized ”political messages” affixed to the back bumper of the car: 1 on each side of, and close to, the license plate. The car was parked within 15 ft of a preschool classroom and directly across from a row of elementary

Read More »

A&A: Records request denied due to “deliberative process privilege”

FAC June 6, 2013

Q: My city is claiming “deliberative process privilege” in redacting the planning director appointment calendar. I’m wondering if there have been any successful challenges to the deliberative process privilege since Schwartznegger’s refusal to turn over appt calendars for two aides citing this privilege? A: It has been argued, and a state appellate court has rejected, that Prop. 59 was intended to eliminate the deliberative process privilege. See Sutter’s Place Inc. v. Superior Court, 161 Cal.

Read More »

A&A: Does the Brown Act require minutes from city council meetings?

FAC June 5, 2013

Q: Are city councils required to have minutes? A: The Brown Act, the law that governs the extent to which local agencies such as city councils must conduct their meetings in a manner open to the public, does not require that a city council take minutes. The Brown Act only acknowledges that a minute book may kept for closed sessions and that a legislative body may require another legislative body over which it has appointed

Read More »