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FAC Urges California Highway Patrol to Release Public Records Relating to 2016 California State Capitol Violence

[…] Law Center. While public records requests are by no means secret, when an agency reaches out to disclose the identity of a public-records requester to people or entities who could do the requester harm, it creates an intolerable and unnecessary chill on the ability of the public to exercise its rights of access to […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
February 16, 2018
Posts

FAC To LAPD: Police Bodycam Footage is a Public Record and Must Be Released

[…] controversies about the police use of force have heightened tensions between the police and the communities they serve. Transparency—the ability of the people to see and know what their government is up to—is essential to the proper functioning of our democracy, including the role police play in it. Bodycam footage is essential to the fundamental right […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
June 8, 2017
Posts

First Amendment

FAC Calls on California City to End Unconstitutional Public Comment Policy

[…] actual disruption of a meeting. Indeed, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has held that virtually identical language is unconstitutional. No matter how intemperate, criticism of government and public officials is the core of what the First Amendment protects. As one court said over 40 years ago, "In America, one who seeks or […]
- Free Expression
- Government Transparency and Accountability
August 8, 2022
Posts

Gov Brown, Veto SB 1300. Ostensibly about oil refineries, SB 1300 threatens public access rights.

[…] Legislature and is now on Governor Jerry Brown's desk, awaiting his signature. Tell him that if he cares at all about the Public Records Act and making government transparent and accountable, he should veto SB 1300. Ostensibly a bill to strengthen safety regulation of oil refineries, SB 1300, introduced by Senator Lonnie Hancock (D-Berkeley), requires […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
September 9, 2014
Asked and Answered

Trying to access the transcript of a 911 call

[…] a paramedic showing up a police officer arrested me and put me jail. I did not cause any disturbance on the train. I did eventually spend four days in the hospital over this. I would like to get a 911 transcript of this call to find out why a paramedic unit was not requested by Amtrak.

June 16, 2015
Posts

FAC Opposes Threats to a Free Press by City of Cypress

[…] the First Amendment was designed to preserve a free press as a vital source of public information, and gratuitous attacks on the press undermine that principle. The government exists to "serve the people and defend the Constitution, not to ‘sit as some kind of journalism review seminar.’" Even if the results of the votes […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
September 25, 2023
Posts

FAC Opposes Bill that Could Hinder Public Access to Meetings

FAC joined a coalition of civic groups to oppose California Assembly Bill 361, which would allow local governments to operate with less openness and evade transparency requirements of the Brown Act during a locally declared emergency. Read our coalition's letter in opposition to AB 361. Track AB 361.
- Government Transparency and Accountability
April 2, 2021
Posts

Public Records

FAC Letter to Cal Poly Regarding Mustang News Reporter’s Public Records Requests

[…] about this case here. On June 16, 2023, the First Amendment Coalition sent the following letter to California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) regarding its failure to comply with the California Public Records Act regarding five separate records requests by Elizabeth Wilson, a student journalist at Mustang News, the campus newspaper.
- Government Transparency and Accountability
April 23, 2024
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Blog

Your First Amendment Rights and Press Freedom on Election Day

[…] theACLU(available in English and Spanish) The Disinfo Defense Toolkitfor organizers and advocates byPEN America United States Journalism Emergency Fundby theInternational Women's Media Foundationin partnership with Craig Newmark Philanthropies KEEP OUR RESOURCES FREE FAC's open- government guides, Legal Hotline and other resources are free and available to all thankstosupporters like you. Considermaking a tax-deductible donationto FACtoday.
- Government Transparency and Accountability
November 3, 2020
Latest News

Blog FAC News

What it Costs to Fight Government Secrecy | A Message from David Snyder

[…] year, you know that FAC has broken new ground in 2021 in our fight to protect a free press and the public’s right to know. We’ve forced government agencies to unseal thousands of pages of previously secret records. We’ve armed journalists and lawyers with knowledge and expertise to defend free-press rights. And we’ve been […]

November 22, 2021