FAC

Q: I made a request for public information four months ago from my local school district and I have not received the requested information. Please advise. A: The Public Records Act contains various provisions related to the time an agency has to respond to a request for public records, as well as the disclosure of those records to the requester.  Gov’t Code § 6253(c) provides that the agency must respond to a request for a copy of

Q: I am a journalist investigating the local County Narcotics task force and their use of confidential informants. I know the task force has their informants sign contracts – I want to file a public records request for full disclosure of said contracts. I know they will likely deny this, but is there any way to fight the denial and get the contract with any/all info that would identify those informants redacted? A: As you seem

Q: Suppose I make a request for records from a public agency, but their records retention policy allows the records to be destroyed before the agency produces them. Does the Public Records Act require a suspension of the destruction of records if a request has been made? A: Unfortunately, the Public Records Act is not a record retention act, and is therefore silent on that front. There are several other statutes and ordinances that govern

Q: A local agency claims that collecting emails via a search term falls under the “data compilation” clause of CPRA 6253.9(b)(2) and therefore they can charge me to inspect them. Is the agency correct? A: The agency’s contention that the data compilation provision allowing fees for these tasks applies to its search for emails is, indeed, novel.  Looking at the plain text of Gov’t Code § 6253.9(b)(2), it is clear that such fees for the production