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Showing 111 - 120 of 1082 results

Asked and Answered

CPRA School Records

Accessing a school district’s settlement agreements

[…] disclosure under the Public Records Act. Although it should generally be possible to draft a settlement agreement without including material so sensitive that it qualifies for an exemption from disclosure under the PRA, it is conceivable that a settlement agreement might contain material legitimately exempt from disclosure under state or federal law. Yet even […]

January 20, 2012
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Filing Complaint under State Audits Guidelines

[…] under the PRA, email correspondence relating to the business of the agency would likely be subject to disclosure under the PRA, unless, as stated above, a PRA exemption applies. As you seem to know, the PRA requires agencies to provide you with the documents requested, or notify you that your request has been denied, […]

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

CPRA

City finds many ways to deny CPRA requests for emails

[…] City emails via public records requests. Our city has a written policy of only making available email from the city server (city manager, city finance director, etc.) for a 30 day time period from the date of the submission of the public record request. PRA requests are repeatedly denied for documents (specifically email) outside […]

May 31, 2013
Asked and Answered

Trying to access the transcript of a 911 call

[…] ("PRA") would govern your request. Whether or not the 9-1-1 transcript (or tape) should be released will depend on whether it is considered "investigatory." The investigatory records exemption of the PRA, Gov’t Code §6254(f)(2), allows police and other investigatory agencies to withhold investigatory files from the public, even after the investigation is over. See, […]

June 16, 2015
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Can an agency’s CPRA defense go beyond the exemptions in the initial denial?

I was recently denied government records based on a single specific exemption to the California Public Records Act. I truly believe these records should be public so I filed a lawsuit myself to compel disclosure. After serving the lawsuit, the head of the agency informed me during a meeting that they may defend the […]

September 16, 2010
Asked and Answered

CPRA

How Do I Access Decades-Old 911 Audios?

The California Public Records Act (CPRA) requires public agencies to disclose public records unless some exemption applies. Public records include "any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used or retained by any state or local agency." Gov’t Code § 6252(e). Note that the word "writing" as used […]

September 24, 2021
Asked and Answered

Court Records CPRA Newsgathering

Destruction of Council Office Files

[…] files of virtually all documents (hard copy and computer files) prior to the new Councilmember taking office. Our city has a document destruction policy which it follows for other city departments (including agendized notice, documents listed, Council vote to authorize) but that was not followed here. The outgoing (now former) Councilmember told our publication […]

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Can I request public staff time cards?

My community has a special water district.There is a manager and a five-person elected board.Would the manager's time-card be public information? Also, the board has not approved the minutes for months.Is there a time limit to approve minutes from meetings?

September 26, 2011
Asked and Answered

Court Records

How to Access Copies of New York Police Records Destroyed in Fire?

I'm a documentary producer researching a 1989 criminal case of Daniel Rakowitz. I requested the case files and court transcript for this trial from the New York State Supreme Court Clerk's Office. At the time that the files were supposed to be delivered, I was informed that the case files and court transcript had been […]

May 28, 2018
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Are government contractors’ 1099’s disclosable?

I am considering a request for the 1099 form issued by a local agency to their general counsel. They are the worst violators of CPRA I have ever experienced. If I do not cite very specific statute and write the request so carefully that virtually all possibilities of misconstruction are eliminated, I will get […]

January 17, 2012