FAC

Q:  My employer—a Business Improvement District—had a regularly scheduled board meeting that per our contract with the City must be open to the public. Thirty minutes before the meeting the executive director sent me home, due to my failure to respond to a text message while on my lunch hour. In the past, myself and other board members have made public comment during the open public comment time at the beginning of meetings. At yesterday’s meeting

Q: I am working on a story about a man who was released from the local jail on probation and a month later is the suspect in a murder-suicide. I have obtained a copy of his pre-sentencing probation report, which labels him as a high risk to reoffend and notes that post-release monitoring would be important. In the wake of the murder-suicide, I reached out to the local probation chief to ask about whether he was

Q: Our group plus hundreds of teachers, parents, and community activists protested against the secret meeting that the city school board to pick the new yet controversial superintendent. We believe that the closed and secret meeting violated several provisions of the Brown Act and we would like help in understanding how the Brown Act applies and in finding an attorney. A: I am sorry to hear about the lack of transparency associated with the hiring

Q: The Municipal Water District had a contract to deliver water, but wanted to modify it. The District’s lawyer wrote a letter to the city attorney, attaching a draft civil complaint, asking for a set of changes, threatening to sue otherwise. “Settlement” meetings were in closed session. Now that a new contract has been agreed to, is the first letter a public record? How can we get it? A: It seems that the letter from

Q: Our office has several has several Public Records requests out at this time. I have been asked to find out if there is any case law or information in regards to a Duty of Good Faith in a public agency responding to a CPRA. Particularly in the context of a genuine public need for the information, such as for an upcoming election. Also, is there any case law regarding the agency saying they need more