Q: I made a PRA request to the School District for gender breakdowns on student performance. After nine business days, I receive an email reply from a law firm seeking “clarification” on about fifty percent of the items. The clarifications requested are not necessary; they are stalling. And they do claim to have approximately half of the items but they did not provide such. The lawyer also claims that due to “reduced staff” they cannot provide me

Q: lacourt.org, the website for the LA County Superior Court, charges a fee of $4.75 to conduct a name search of criminal case on its website. It is a non-refundable fee charged even if no results are found. This doesn’t seem to be reasonably accessible as required under Cal. Gov. Code. 68150. Has this ever been challenged to your knowledge? I see California Court Rule 2.506 which allows this fee also requires them to justify

Q: This is a question about publishing information found in documents from the Family Division of Superior Court regarding a divorce. Is it legal for us to mention the divorce in our article? Also, is it legal for us to publish the home address of a person in connection with our investigative reporting? We found that address in the court documents of a criminal trial. There is some other information published on the website of

Q: I am a parent of an elementary school student who is attending a public school being fast-tracked to close in 25 days. An important piece of this decison-making process is a report that is being written by a superintendent’s advisory committee. This committee has closed meetings and the school board allows this. I have asked for the public to be able to view the meetings, to observe, but this has been denied. The superintendent’s

Q: I received a response to a CPRA request notifying me that I would likely not receive a response for eight weeks. Is this extended window consistent with the PRA? If it is not, what remedies are available to me? [This questions was submitted in 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic.) A: Although the agency has a right to a 14-day extension of the usual 10-day response period for a California Public Records Act (“CPRA”) request,