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  • Latest News

    Blog

    Transparency coming to police one city at a time

    […] "highly offensive." That language is so vague  it could apply to any use of force. Another bill, AB 2533 (by Miguel Santiago, a Democrat), would require advance notice to police of the release of video footage requested under the CPRA. The notice requirement is an invitation to police to file a lawsuit,  forcing the […]

    June 24, 2016

  • Latest News

    Blog Cases

    Successful outcome in FAC suit pulls back curtain on “deliberative process” 

    The First Amendment Coalition has reached a highly favorable settlement in a PRA suit against Marin County for records relating to a stream conservation ordinance. The outcome should serve as a warning to local governments proposing to withhold records on grounds they reflect how official decisions are made. FAC and its co-plaintiff, environmentalist David Schnapf, will receive […]

    August 23, 2015

  • Latest News

    Cases Press Release

    Secret Docket Revealed: FAC Wins Cal Supreme Court Rulings Unsealing Clemency Files

    […] practices, Newsom and, before him Jerry Brown, submitted these materials to the Court as "confidential." Until FAC intervened, the Court acquiesced to that designation—without following the strict requirements under California law for determining what court records can be sealed from public view. Under the California Rules of Court, the California Constitution and the First […]

    September 16, 2019

  • Latest News

    Blog

    SacBee calls for more transparency in compensation agreements with public employee unions

    […] local government labor contract negotiations. You can understand the logic and the urgency behind his idea when you consider the situation in Vallejo. That city is filing for bankruptcy. Why? Local officials approved salary and benefits costs for current employees and retirees that are more than the city can afford. Scheer's point is that […]

    June 2, 2009

  • Latest News

    FAC News

    Now Hiring: Development Director

    […] broadest range of engaged and informed communities is essential to the health of our democracy – that the values expressed by the First Amendment provide a blueprint for an inclusive, equitable society and a responsive, accountable government. To that end, FAC educates, advocates and litigates to protect and promote government transparency and First Amendment […]

    August 25, 2022

  • Latest News

    Press Release

    FAC, SPJ NorCal Announce Efforts to Protect Press Freedom One Year After Raid on Journalist

    […] federal law protects journalists from having to disclose their sources or any unpublished information collected during newsgathering to the government — and prohibits judges from issuing warrants for the search and seizure of such information. In the interceding 12 months, many questions remain unanswered, including whether and how the city will change its policies […]

    May 12, 2020

  • Latest News

    Blog

    Corporate transparency, long cherished as an essential feature of US capital markets, is giving way to the secrecy of “private equity” deals. Big mistake.

    […] and buying companies that they think are undervalued. The process of "going private," by substituting private investors for public ones, substantially frees these public companies from the requirements of federal securities laws—including the key requirement of disclosure. This effect is not trivial. The alternative universe of private equity now controls approximately 10 percent of […]

    June 2, 2009

  • Latest News

    Cases

    Amicus Briefs Digest, Sept. 2017

    […] on the employer’s premises. The amicus brief argues that information provided by sources to the press is essential to investigative journalism and that under the broad standing requirements established by the U.S. Supreme Court in First Amendment cases, Plaintiffs have established standing based on the Act's chilling effect. Carpenter v. United States: This amicus […]

    September 27, 2017

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA Police Records

    Police deny journalist’s request for suicide report

    […] closed, but the request was denied anyway. The denial letter says that even when a police investigation is closed, the agency doesn’t have to make anything public (though it did provide a small, essentially worthless summary). Is that conclusion correct? Do I have any recourse? For instance, can I ask that they redact sensitive information?

    April 2, 2010

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act

    Selling property and public input

    Can a city sell property with just a closed session hearing? Noopen public hearing on the sale was held.

    June 14, 2009