Search Results

Showing 1031 - 1040 of 1468 results

Posts

Join us in urging the Governor to sign SB 914 to protect privacy and free speech rights

[…] requiring police, following an arrest, to obtain a warrant to search an individual's cellphone (or other "portable electronic device"), just as the police would have to do for a search of files located in your office desk or your bedroom (which are far better analogies than a cigarette pack). The virtue of a warrant […]
- Free Expression
- Government Transparency and Accountability
September 21, 2011
Posts

Gov Brown, Veto SB 1300. Ostensibly about oil refineries, SB 1300 threatens public access rights.

[…] Ostensibly a bill to strengthen safety regulation of oil refineries, SB 1300, introduced by Senator Lonnie Hancock (D-Berkeley), requires oil companies to file reports on scheduled shutdowns, typically for maintenance, of their refinery facilities. So far, no problem. Then came last-minute amendments, backed by organized labor as well as oil companies, that give oil companies […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
September 9, 2014
Posts

FAC-backed bill, AB 521, would require disclosure of water usage by corporations

The California Legislature will consider a FAC-backed bill to narrow the CPRA’s exemption for information on water usage by customers of government water districts. The bill, AB 1520, would reverse the outcome of an unsuccessful lawsuit filed by FAC against the Coachella Valley Water District in 2014. The CPRA for nearly 20 years has […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
June 30, 2015
Posts

FAC Supports SB 776 to Improve Police Transparency in California

[…] incidents by the officer to the officer's employer. The measure also has provisions that would encourage agencies to comply with the law: a $1,000 fine per day for each day beyond 30 days that disclosable records are not turned over to a requester, and the chance for prevailing parties in open-records lawsuits to seek […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
August 5, 2020
Asked and Answered

Trying to access the transcript of a 911 call

[…] certain information contained in these records must be disclosed. Among the information that must be disclosed is "the time, substance, and location of all complaints or requests for assistance received by the agency and the time and nature of the response thereto." Gov’t Code § 6254(f)(2). The first step you might consider taking is […]

June 16, 2015
Posts

First Amendment

FAC Requests John Ortega, Orange School Board President, Retract Statement About Recall Effort
- Free Expression
February 6, 2024
Latest News

Blog

To take the sleaze out of judicial elections, ethics rules should bar lawyers who contribute money to judges from practicing before those judges

[…] the CEO of a corporation, a party to a West Virginia Supreme Court appeal, who made contributions and expenditures totaling $3 million in support of a candidate for a Supreme Court judgeship who, following his election, voted with the court majority in favor of the CEO's company. The US Supreme Court is considering whether […]
- Government Transparency and Accountability
June 3, 2009
Latest News

Blog

Thanks to AG’s threats to indict press in leak cases, reporters need not rely on 1st Amendment to protect sources. They can take the Fifth.

By Peter Scheer Our Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, has stated publicly that he believes journalists may be prosecuted under federal espionage laws for publishing articles based on leaks of classified information. The comments, in an ABC News interview, were directed at the New York Times (for its disclosures about NSA’s warrantless eavesdropping) and the […]
- Press Freedom
June 2, 2009
Latest News

Blog

Supremes pass on NYT reporter Risen’s appeal of ruling requiring him to ID sources. This is a good thing.

The US Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court order directing New York Times journalist James Risen to testify about his confidential sources for reporting on secret US efforts to undermine Iran’s nuclear program. Be thankful that the Court took a pass. Although the First Amendment Coalition joined a legal brief urging […]
- Free Expression
June 17, 2014
Latest News

Blog

Supreme Court’s much-maligned First Amendment decision will, in fact, expand freedom of speech

[…] industries enjoy direct or indirect government subsidies. In the media industry, for example, traditional newspapers are subsidized through sales tax exemptions and restrictions on competition for legal notices; television and radio are subsidized through the federal government's decision to give away scarce spectrum space; the internet is subsidized by limitations on taxation of online […]
- Free Expression
April 5, 2010