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  • 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

    A City Council’s COVID-19 Ordinance Allows Only email or Pre-Recorded Telephonic Comments

    […] Cal. July 14, 2020), the petitioners argued that the Planning Commission and City Council impermissibly restricted public participation during public meetings because "the City capped videoconference attendance for the City Council meeting at 100 participants even though the Zoom platform permits up to 1,000 attendees and between 200–300 members of the public had attended […]

    January 20, 2021

  • Latest News

    Blog

    Hillary’s email problem: A crucial lesson for government officials everywhere

    BY PETER SCHEER--Across the country literally thousands of state and local political officials, from governors to local school superintendents, use their personal email accounts for sending and receiving messages about government business. Hardly surprising. All public officials support government transparency in the abstract, but when it comes to their own communications, most opt for […]

    March 17, 2015

  • 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

    Blog

    When mayors evade disclosure rules by using personal email accounts for city business, it is democracy that suffers. We’ll know soon if the courts, like the public, have lost patience.

    For years government officials in California have known that their emails about official business are subject to disclosure as public records. Although mayors, city managers, supervisors and superintendents may not like this, the applicability of the public records law to email messages is settled. You will not be shocked to learn, however, that […]

    February 6, 2014

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    Are public records requests public records?

    […] agency has any written public records requests in its possession, these requests would themselves be subject to the Public Records Act. Bryan Cave LLP is general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition and responds to FAC hotline inquiries. In responding to these inquiries, we can give general information regarding open government and speech issues […]

    September 9, 2014

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA Police Records

    Police Reports, Public Record

    […] through the police department, and if no action was taken by the DA on any report, how would one gain access to find them?  I am looking for one specific report which should be related to the man's mailbox having been blown up.  Yet, no action may have been taken.  We believe he is […]

    June 14, 2009

  • Latest News

    Cases Press Release

    FAC Sues Ventura County Sheriff for Violating Public Records Act

    […] the dark about the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, and that needs to change." FAC’s transparency efforts in Ventura County go back to January 2020. FAC requested records for all of 2019, the year California Senate Bill 1421, or the "Right to Know Act," and a companion statute covering audio/visual recordings of critical incidents took […]

    March 30, 2021

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act First Amendment

    Does the Brown Act Offer Recourse for Activists Barred from City Council Meeting?

    […] nothing wrong. Some of us eventually made it in, including myself, but other never made it in and were unable to speak during public comments. I would like to see if there is some sort of recourse we can pursue against the city/police department for violating our rights to attend and participate in the meeting.

    February 12, 2018