FAC

Q: I have been spending a lot of time inspecting the minutes of a local business improvement district. This week they changed their office hours from M-F 8:30-5:30 to be by appointment only, and this greatly limits my ability to look at documents in their office. Their staff is in the office during the old hours, but they claim that they’re not open except by appointment. Is this allowable under CPRA? A: Under the California

Q: Please tell me how I can go about submitting a PRA request for a lawmaker’s emails and calendar, and for the agendas of a legislative caucus. To whom do I submit my request? A: Statutes governing access to public records differ depending upon the person from whom you seek the records.  The Public Records Act only applies to records “prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency…”  Gov’t Code § 6252(e)(emphasis

Q: I’m a newspaper reporter working on a story on a local man charged in a nationally covered rape case, and we have reason to believe he was being recruited by major college sports programs while on trial. I have the name of the schools, which are public institutions, and we want to know the best way of retrieving documents from coaches who were in contact with him. A: It sounds like you will want to submit public records requests to

Q: I’m investigating a lax building code and the permitting procedures of my city’s Building Department, for several specific examples. I have examples, where there is ongoing construction and periodic remodeling done, without original permits or follow up ! The remodeling is incremental but , the accumulation, of ad-on, over the years is substantial! The request was sent to the City Clerk who was identified as the CPRA spoke person. There is a good indication of an under the table “pay-off.”

Q: Does the Brown Act allow a publicly elected school board to hold closed session discussion under Government Code 54957 (Public Employee Appointment/Employment) and 54957.6 (Labor Negotiations) regarding the appointment and pay structure of a Director of Curriculum to the position of Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services. Both positions are administrative positions that report directly to the Superintendent of the District and do not report to, or have direct supervision by the board. The pay is set