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  • Latest News

    Blog

    Illegal immigrants have access rights too. The benefits of the Brown Act and Public Records Act do not depend on citizenship.

    By Peter Scheer California's open government laws--the Brown Act and the Public Records Act, primarily--are often said to vindicate the "people's right to know" about their government. And indeed they do. But this formulation begs the question: which "people" exactly? At the country's founding, seemingly universalist references to "the people" actually meant a minority […]

    June 2, 2009

  • Latest News

    Blog

    Gmail Nation: The Privatization of Public Records and Public Access

    By DAVID SNYDER—The California Supreme Court ruled last month that records stored on government officials’ personal email accounts are subject to the California Public Records Act. This answer seems obvious: government officials should not be able to conceal otherwise public records by simply using Gmail. And yet the law has been surprisingly slow to […]

    April 25, 2017

  • Latest News

    Blog

    FAC lawsuit leads to model CPRA policy for dot-gov email

    Auburn and San Jose are the first cities in California to adopt policies acknowledging the public’s right of access to city officials’ emails about government business--regardless of the kind of email accounts used to send or receive those emails. Emails have long been covered by California’s Public Records Act (PRA), which treats paper records […]

    December 23, 2012

  • Latest News

    Press Release

    Coalition Urges Compliance with California Public Records Law Amid COVID-19 Crisis

    In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some government agencies in California have announced that they intend to stop responding to California Public Records Act requests until the crisis passes. There is no legal basis for this extraordinary step. The California Public Records Act, Gov. Code § 6250, et seq., remains the law of the […]

    March 23, 2020

  • Latest News

    Cases

    Amicus Briefs Digest, Sept. 2017

    […] of Appeal, authored by Reporters Committee. In an argument that perhaps only a lawyer could love (but which is actually quite important), the brief argues that the government may not charge all costs for collecting and assembling electronic records, but rather are limited to the "costs of duplication" they are permitted to charge for […]

    September 27, 2017

  • Latest News

    Press Release

    California First Amendment Coalition to Tell Congressional Commission that China’s Internet Censorship Violates WTO Treaties

    CFAC, June 16, 2008--The California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) will testify before a Congressional commission this week concerning the Chinese government's system of internet censorship, which CFAC is challenging as a violation of free trade treaties enforced by the World Trade Organization (WTO). The hearings on "Access to Information and Media Control in the […]

    June 3, 2009

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    The CPRA and the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance

    […] know from a listing what are home, cell or office numbers? How does this square with the concept that some privacy is waived when people contact their government. What about fax machine call logs? Also is there a concept of private vs official or business email addresses - is it different for citizens than […]

    June 14, 2009

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act

    Senior Center Boards and the Brown Act

    […] possible that the school district may cite privacy as a reason to turn down your request, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are correct to do so. Government Code section 6254 provides that " Except as provided in Section 6254.7, nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require disclosure of records that are […]

    June 14, 2009

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    Government agency refusal of email records

    I was refused access to government emails and correspondence because the records were determined to be exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act (recognized under the public interest balancing exemption provided by Government Code section 6255). Does this also refuse my right to access the time and date of the email correspondence?

    April 12, 2016