firstamendment

Accessing Juvenile Court Records Q: Are state appeal briefs filed by the parties a public record when the case stems from juvenile court? A: Rule of Court 8.400, which applies to appeals in both dependency and delinquency proceedings under the Welfare and Institutions Code, provides for the confidentiality of the record on appeal and documents filed by the parties.  Under subsection (b)(1) of that rule, such documents “may be inspected only by the reviewing court

Preliminary Data from FEMA as Requested by the City Q: I have requested “preliminary” flood mapping data from FEMA for the city. The FEMA Consultant has responded that the data are preliminary, therefore, they are not required to release it to the public. However, the city is using the preliminary flood data to dictate development standards. The city requires developers to conduct their own flood studies since the FEMA information is only draft or preliminary. If

Local Agencies’ Request for Qualifications Bids Q: What are the legal requirements for Request for Qualifications Bids/responses to be available for the public to review? Can we use legislation in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain developers’ responses to an RFQ? The agency is a local government redevelopment agency that has put out an RFQ to developers for the development of the old Army Base. A: Because the Redevelopment Agency is a local

DMV License Plate Records Q: I attended a peaceful rally and protest.  At this event there was a cube van that appeared to be a surveillance vehicle.  I have photos of this van showing the front and read license plate.  After the event, at my request, a Sheriff’s deputy ran the plate and it came back as non-existent.  A DMV telephone help line operator told me the plate number was not in the DMV system.