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  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    Request Denials, No Documentation

    […] in their sale of the building in question they had begun the CEQA process, and again all I get from the Clerk is "I have no documentation on that." Do I, as a member of the public, have the right to know in one form or another the business and legal transactions my City initiates?

    June 14, 2009

  • Latest News

    Cases Press Release

    Media Coalition Asks Court to Unseal Search Warrant Targeting Protesters Kept Under Seal for Two Years

    Media Coalition Asks Court to UnsealSearch Warrant Targeting Protesters Kept Under Seal for Two Years FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Updated: The court on Nov. 10 granted the motion to unseal but delayed release of the records pending further proceedings. LOS ANGELES —California government watchdog group First Amendment Coalition and independent news organization Knock LA this […]

    September 19, 2022

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    Public Comment on Public Contracts

    As I understand your question, you are wondering what is the reasonable time period that a city must allow for public comment on the winning bid for a public contract before the city makes the actual award of the contract.  Unfortunately, the California Supreme Court case cited by the city, Michaelis, Montanari & Johnson […]

    June 14, 2009

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act CPRA

    City-Funded Committees with Non-Public Official Member

    […] information you're seeking.  Under the PRA, records maintained or owned by public agencies are presumed to be open to public inspection unless one of the Act's specific exemptions applies.  Since it sounds like your oral and email discussions with the city are going nowhere, you might want to send a formal letter request, asking […]

    June 14, 2009

  • Latest News

    Rating the leading Presidential candidates on First Amendment issues. And the winner is . . .

    […] rights. As a lawyer with an elite legal pedigree whose first professional gig was investigating Richard Nixon's predations against civil liberties during Watergate, she has an appreciation for both the danger of excessive governmental secrecy, and the importance of the press as an institutional counterweight. On the other hand, as a subject of Congressional […]

    June 3, 2009

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act

    Can the City Council ban non-disruptive clapping by audience members?

    […] couple of years have spoken in opposition to City Council policy and actions. I believe the implementation of the policy by the City Council is in violation of the First Amendment. The interpretation is not balanced and allows for clapping for certain events which the City Council supports. Can you suggest a course of action?

    April 14, 2015

  • Latest News

    FAC News Press Release

    Former FAC Executive Director Peter Scheer Awarded Society of Professional Journalists Career Achievement Prize

    […] Peter Scheer has been named the 2017 recipient of the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists’ career achievement award--a signal honor marking his advocacy, over many years, for free speech, a free press and the public’s right to know. Scheer, 65, will accept the Norwin S. Yoffie Award for Career Achievement on March 22 […]

    February 22, 2017

  • Cases

    First Amendment Coalition v. Chiu

    Working with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, we sued the San Francisco City Attorney and California Attorney General on November 22 to challenge a California statute that authorizes city attorneys, district attorneys and the Attorney General to seek civil penalties against anyone who publishes any information related to a sealed arrest record, […]

    December 5, 2024

  • Latest News

    Cases Press Release

    FAC Attorneys Awarded $100k for Public Records Win

    […] in court costs. Former city manager Tom Williams, who was at the center of the lawsuit, also must pay FAC’s attorneys $7,750 in attorneys fees and costs, for a total of $99,760. The order comes after over a year of litigation against both Milpitas and Williams. FAC prevailed in its lawsuit on May 25, […]

    October 23, 2018

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    Obtaining Legal Records of a Public Agency

    […] requested the list of legal expenses, by attorney, billing statements and /or invoices by case or project from the City and Redevelopment Agency.  I did not ask for any other information about any of the litigation or project. They took over a month to provide me with a ledger from the finance department with […]

    June 14, 2009