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Showing 391 - 400 of 692 results

  • Asked and Answered

    First Amendment

    Arrested for using “colorful” language at city council meeting

    […] case, the Court said that the state "may not, consistently with the First and Fourteenth Amendments, make the simple public display here involved of this single four- letter expletive a criminal offense."Id. at 26. Holme Roberts & Owen LLP is general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition and responds to First Amendment Coalition hotline […]

    December 31, 2010

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    Employee Information and the CPRA

    […] said, the employees could have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Whether "Teamsters" is right or wrong has been subject to some debate. But even if it is correct, "Teamsters" would not seem to help state employees because the state has consistently released this information. For example, we are aware of at least one newspaper […]

    June 14, 2009

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    Can criminal background checks on county candidates be kept confidential?

    […] on other officeholders nor does it plan to start doing them for all candidates. It did, however, conduct such a check in 1989 when it last made an appointment to the clerk-recorder position. Is the county's interpretation correct? Can the county keep the results of a background check on a person holding elected office confidential?

    May 1, 2013

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act

    City Councilmembers texting each other while deliberating

    If I understand correctly, you are asking whether a city council member can text or email other city council members over an issue that is formally before them. The Brown Act is violated when "a series of communications of any kind, directly or through intermediaries," is used by a majority of the members of […]

    July 10, 2014

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act First Amendment

    Can the city manager demand political cartoons removed from senior center?

    The City Manager was probably correct that the Brown Act does not apply, but only because, from the facts in your inquiry, there does not seem to be any meeting of a "legislative body" involved here, which is what would trigger that particular body of law. Rather, it sounds like broader First Amendment considerations […]

    November 18, 2011

  • Asked and Answered

    Court Records CPRA

    How Do I Submit CPRA Requests to a CA County Court?

    […] recommend directing the request to the court’s executive officer, who can then decide who in his or her office should handle the request.  A sample PRA request letter can be found on the FAC’s website here.  Of course, you would want to replace any references to the PRA with references to Rule 10.500. Bryan Cave […]

    June 15, 2018

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    City Hall withholding excessive water users’ ID info

    […] they be given a scarlet D to wear around their neck in the form of their name in the paper. You can find a sample PRA request letter on the FAC’s website, available at http://ift.tt/1jmHASg. Bryan Cave LLP is general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition and responds to First Amendment Coalition hotline inquiries.  In […]

    July 14, 2014

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act

    City Planning Commission failure to address public comment

    […] the right to public comment pursuant to the Brown Act, you cannot compel anyone to speak to your questions. My suggestion would be that you ensure the letter gets into the hands of all of the decision-makers – all of the planning commission members, as well as city staff. Simply getting the comments on the […]

    April 11, 2016

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA Newsgathering

    Accessing 911 Calls and Police Reports

    […] writing (within 10 days) and specify the exemptions to disclosure on which they are relying.   A sample written request can be found at the following link: https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/cpra-primer/sample-cpra-request- letter/ The PRA exemption at issue for the records you seek is found at Government Code section 6254(f), which exempts from disclosure records of law enforcement complaints […]

    June 14, 2009