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FAC and Sac Bee, in major court victory, gain access to pension payments, by name, to county retirees

Peter Scheer May 12, 2011

A California appeals court ruled May 11 in favor of FAC and the Sacramento Bee in a case involving public access to information about government pensions. The third district Court of Appeal ruled that the California Public Records Act requires county governments–in this instance, Sacramento–to disclose, by employee name, pension amounts paid to retired county employees. Both the Sacramento Bee and FAC sued the county after being denied the pension information.  San Francisco attorney Karl

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California: Grand jury finds Oak Valley Hospital District violated open meeting law

donal brown May 12, 2011

The Stanislaus County civil grand jury said the Oak Valley Hospital District had violated California’s open meetings law by failing to adhere to guidelines on agendas, the conduct of meetings, serial meetings and the release of confidential information and public information. The hospital district acknowledged the violations and said they were corrected before and during the grand jury’s investigation. -db From the Modesto Bee, May 10, 2011, by Rosalio Ahumada. Full story

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California: Activists say Costa Mesa working groups must comply with open meeting laws

donal brown May 12, 2011

Blogger Geoff West uncovered a violation of the Brown Act, California’s open meeting act, by the Costa Mesa City Council in which the city formed two person sub-committees that they claimed were not subject to the Brown Act. Terry Francke of CalAware said that the working groups are subject to the act, “While the Working Groups are intended to report their recommendations to the full Council in open session, and while Working Group members are

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California: Grand Jury says Ridgecrest council violated open meeting law

donal brown May 12, 2011

After investigating a citizen’s complaint, the Kern County Grand Jury has concluded that the Ridgecrest City Council violated the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law at two meetings in December and when three council members discussed a city matter in January at a meeting at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. In December the city council did not provide for public comment. The jury did not find that the council intended to violate the

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California: Sacramento County ordered to turn over pension data

donal brown May 12, 2011

A California appeals court has ordered Sacramento County’s retirement system to release pension data to the Sacramento Bee. The Bee and the First Amendment Coalition had brought a lawsuit to reveal data about the pension benefits ncluding the names and benefits of individual members. Said Joyce Terhaar of The Bee, “It’s part of our mission to ensure there’s public scrutiny of government spending. We’ve been reporting for several years that local governments are facing higher

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