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

Legislation Would Make Government More Remote You may have seen the recent editorials sounding the alarms over legislation that would make California government less open and accountable by chipping away at our state's open-meetings laws. Los Angeles Times: It's time for California's public officials to return to work. In person. Mercury News: Stop Two […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
August 21, 2023
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CFAC sponsors bill to prevent agencies from using anti-SLAPP law to deter citizens' open-gov suits

[…] open records and open meetings laws. The bill, SB 786, has been introduced by State Senator Leland Yee. SB 786 is directed to lawsuits in which a government agency, defending itself from a claim of violation of the Public Records Act, the Brown Act or the Bagley-Keene Act, invokes the state anti-SLAPP law in […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
June 2, 2009
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California Assembly Bill 1479 Would Add Much-Needed Teeth to Disclosure Requirements Under the California Public Records Act

One of the most frequent complaints FAC hears from people seeking records under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) is that government agencies simply ignore the law's requirement that the government respond to a request within a certain time frame. One reason government agencies do this is that there is very little cost to […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
April 20, 2017
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Blog Cases

Victory for newspaper publisher Tim Crews and FAC in Appeals Court decision

[…] legal fees to a school board he sued over his public records request. The unanimous decision (see Court of Appeal's opinion below) represents a crucial victory for government transparency and a welcome success for the First Amendment Coalition, which was instrumental in organizing and underwriting Crews’ successful defense. "The appeals court’s decision makes clear […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
July 20, 2013
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Blog

The First Amendment protects journalists using Snowden’s documents. But what about Snowden?

[…] information, not a journalist who receives leaks. The difference is crucial: in the transaction between source and journalist, constitutional protections extend only to the latter. Specifically, the government is legally powerless to get a court injunction barring a journalist from publishing a story based on leaked information. And post-publication, too, journalists have special protections: […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
October 22, 2013
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Blog Events

Sunshine Week Event: Inside the Fight for Public Information

Sunshine Week 2021: Join us for a discussion on navigating barriers to public records and fighting for open government Update: Check out the event recap. The coronavirus pandemic has made accessing public information more challenging than ever, with some governments refusing to even respond to requests for public records. Yet news organizations across the […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
March 2, 2021
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Blog

Snowden, go home

[…] him. By postponing this reckoning, he adds to skepticism about his motives. More important, he diminishes his legitimacy as a whistleblower who broke the law to expose government overreaching, change official policy, and vindicate principles of government transparency and individual privacy. Snowden has portrayed his accessing, copying and distribution (to selected journalists) of NSA […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
July 14, 2014
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Revisiting Citizens United decision: Not as harmful as feared, and actually provides a 1st Amendment rationale for curbing super PACs

[…] purchase of TV and radio ads or otherwise) by combining one's contribution with those of others is outside the zone of First Amendment protection and subject to government limits. Gorge Soros, on his own, is therefore free to spend millions to benefit President Barak Obama. So is Warren Buffett. However, Soros and Buffett may […]

June 1, 2012
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Blog

Real agenda cloaked in government buzzwords and bafflegab

[…] deserves better. It doesn’t take a Steinbeck to write clearly and concisely. Transparency is all the rage these days, but it’s little more than a buzzword when government cloaks itself in jargon and bafflegab. Dick Rogers, a veteran newspaperman, was most recently Metro Editor, then ombudsman at the San Francisco Chronicle. He has taught […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
April 19, 2011
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FAC News Press Release

ProPublica Staffers Win 2018 FAC Award for “Trump Town” Investigative Series

The First Amendment Coalition is proud to announce the recipient of its 2018 Free Speech & Open Government Award is the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica, selected for its extensive use of public records to increase transparency around political appointees at the highest levels of government. This year’s award goes to ProPublica staffers Derek Kravitz, Al […]

November 28, 2018