Documents relating to employment Q: I applied for a job with a public transit agency in California. I did not get the job and would like to know if my previous employer in another state gave me a negative reference. The agency has refused to give me this information (saying it is against their policy), though I believe it is my right to have access to it. My attorney believes this is covered by FOIA,
Requesting electronic trial court records Q: I am trying to access a criminal court’s calendar for a 3 month period of time in 2004. Is there is a different public records request when trying to access information from the courts? A: Pursuant to the California Rules of Court regarding public access to electronic trial court records, you can request bulk distribution of a California Superior Court’s electronic calendar, register of actions, and index for criminal
Emails to officials Q: I sent two emails to my Mayor concerning city business but the emails were deleted without having been read. Then, I sent an email to the City Manager about 30 days ago, more or less, and it was deleted, unread, as their program deletes emails after 30 days.Is it proper or legal for a city to delete emails without reading them? A: Your inquiry raises two separate issues: (1) whether there
Emails as public records Q: To what extent is email correspondence a public record? Is the correspondence between two School District Directors on a particular subject recoverable even when the equivalent conversation via telephone would not be? A: E-mails are “public records” as defined by the California Public Records Act. Government Code section 6252(e) defines “public records” as follows:”Public records” includes any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned,
CPRA fees and information in electronic form Q: Responding to a request for copies of all messages, emails from council members laptops to each other, especially during the periods of council meetings for the last two months, the city has responded thusly:Pursuant to the California Public Records Act Government Code 6253.9 b. 2 the following fees are associated with fulfilling your request: Contract Staff time to extract stored email ($45/hr x35 hrs) = $1,575.00 Recall