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San Diego: Dispute over release of wrong documents in public records request

donal brown September 26, 2011

The Tri-City Healthcare District is asking a court to stop the San Diego Union-Tribune from publishing what they say are “privileged and confidential communications.” Tri-City accidentally provided the records in response to a public records request. The contents of the communications are not known, but among other things, Tri-City is upset that the Union Tribune used the communications to make another public records request. -db From the Courthouse News Service, September 21, 2011, by Matt

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Obama administration pledges faster pace on approving FOIA requests

donal brown September 26, 2011

The Obama administration said it would use advances in technology to expedite Freedom of Information Act requests. The new pledge is part of an international effort to provide citizens greater power to participate in government. -db From Broadcasting & Cable, September 20, 2011, by John Eggerton. Full story

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A&A: Can I reqest public staff time cards?

FAC September 26, 2011

Q: My community has a special water district. There is a manager and a five-person elected board. Would the manager’s time-card be public information? Also, the board has not approved the minutes for months. Is there a time limit to approve minutes from meetings? A: Under the California Public Records Act, public records, including “any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or

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Cal State University trustees back hiring secrecy

FAC September 23, 2011

When it comes to picking finalists for top jobs on state university campuses, Cal State University trustees have decided it’s a private matter. On Wednesday trustees of the 23-campus system voted 15-1 to eliminate a long-standing requirement that finalists for campus president openly visit the school to meet with students and campus leaders. The visits allow the school community and the public to  assess the competing candidates. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Chancellor Charles

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Senators charge public deceived by government on justification for domestic spying

donal brown September 22, 2011

Two Democratic senators on the Senate Intelligence Committee accused the Justice Department of misleading the public on legal justification of domestic spying under the Patriot Act. The DOJ denied that they provided any misleading information. The senators  are concerned about Section 215 of the Patriot Act that allows a secret national security court to enable the F.B.I. to obtain “any tangible things” in a national security investigation including  customer information like hotel or credit card

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