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Latest News

Cases Press Release

Public Records Lawsuit Seeks Transparency at San José City Hall

[…] messages about city business to their government accounts. "Without public access to records, there’s no way for the taxpayers and the public to verify that public and elected officials are acting in the best interests of the public, and not the best interests of their friends, cronies and campaign contributors," said Karl Olson, attorney […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Records
February 3, 2022
Cases

Dhaliwal v. Komrosky

[…] the First Amendment, such as calling a board member a "homophobe" for objecting to a curriculum that mentioned Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, and who was assassinated while in office, or calling another board member a "Communist." Komrosky has demonstrated a consistent pattern of […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Meetings
December 21, 2023
Latest News

Blog

When mayors evade disclosure rules by using personal email accounts for city business, it is democracy that suffers. We’ll know soon if the courts, like the public, have lost patience.

[…] on paper, in email accounts registered to a city or to a mayor or council member personally--are the essence of transparency. The public has lost patience with elected representatives who game the legal rules to avoid disclosure of information to which the public is entitled. We'll soon find out if the judiciary also has […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Records
February 6, 2014
Posts

FAC Opposes California Bills that Would Reduce Face-to-Face Accountability

[…] a special Brown Act carve-out to some regional government bodies to make it easier for members to avoid attending meetings in person. SB 411 would allow the elected representatives of Los Angeles’ neighborhood councils to more easily avoid meeting in person. California should be a leader in using technology and pandemic-inspired lessons to increase […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Meetings
August 21, 2023
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Deliberative process and the public record

1) Are public record emails to and from an elected county supervisor and his aides and staffers off limits, as the county counsel never quoted a legal reference when denying my request for such, only writing my "request may seek records that reflect the deliberative process contributing to an executive or legislative decision, "It's […]

June 14, 2009
Latest News

Proposition

[…] Obama's aides to get him to surrender his Blackberry, on which Obama had relied to escape the bubble that descends on leading presidential contenders, not to mention elected presidents. I argued that the aides' concerns about legal and security constraints were overblown and urged Obama to keep the Blackberry---and to use it, while President, […]

June 3, 2009
Latest News

Cases Press Release

FAC sues Auburn for council members’ business emails sent from private email accounts. Suit also challenges email deletion policy.
- Government Transparency and Accountability
- Public Records
June 11, 2012
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Community College Senates, the Brown Act, and Secret Ballots

I am a member of a College Academic Senate, a body of 15 elected faculty members representing the faculty at large and governed by open meeting regulations, including the Brown Act. The Senate violated the Brown Act by conducting a secret ballot and a group of faculty brought a petition for a referendum vote by […]

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Future Council Members, Participation, and the Brown Act

Section 54952.1 of the Brown Act provides that "ny person elected to serve as a member of a legislative body who has not yet assumed the duties of office shall conform his or her conduct to the requirements of this chapter and shall be treated for purposes of enforcement of this chapter as if […]

June 14, 2009
Latest News

Cases Press Release

FAC Seeks to Unseal Gov. Brown’s Request to Pardon Embattled Former State Senator

[…] "We believe the state and federal constitution, prohibit this practice—and there is an intense public interest in seeing these records, in particular as they pertain to an elected official convicted of serious felonies.." The motion comes after FAC requested the records from the Supreme Court by person at the clerk's office and by sending […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
November 20, 2018