FAC

Live Event: Media Leak Investigations and the First Amendment

Update: Watch the video on demand. Earlier this month, reports emerged that, under the Trump administration, the U.S. Justice Department sought the phone and email records of several reporters. The record seizures did not contain the content of the messages, but showed who contacted whom and when. None of the reporters who were targeted knew that the government had taken their information, let alone why. Those that knew about the record seizures were forced to

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A&A: Can California Agencies Continue to Hold Meetings Remotely After the State Reopens?

Q: I asked a water agency in California if it planned to continue holding meetings online after the state reopens this month, and it said that would not be legal under the Brown Act. Is that true?  A: The agency’s response that making public participation in agency meetings available online and through Zoom is “currently not legal under the Brown Act” is incorrect.   The agency does acknowledge that online meetings would not comply with the

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Op-Ed: Passing SB 16 Will Bring Transparency to Police Misconduct

FAC Executive Director David Snyder wrote an op-ed published May 27 in the Mercury News calling for passage of California Senate Bill 16, which would expand the types of police misconduct records that would be subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act. The bill, authored by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, builds on a measure FAC strongly supported in 2018, “The Right to Know Act,” or SB 14, a landmark law that improved public access

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