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  • Handbooks

    Reporter’s Field Guide: Police Shootings

    […] to when, and offer reporting tips to help gather as much information as possible. Because serious use of force by police is arguably the gravest exercise of governmental power, journalists serve a vital public interest when they use the transparency laws at their disposal to ensure there is a robust public record of every […]

    September 8, 2025

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act First Amendment

    Can a city council member control clapping during a meeting?

    […] does not grant to members of the public generally a right to be heard by public bodies making decisions of policy…. Policymaking organs in our system of government have never operated under a constitutional constraint requiring them to afford every interested member of the public an opportunity to present testimony before any policy is […]

    April 24, 2025

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act First Amendment

    I could not display a video during my public comment at a city council meeting

    This inquiry raises two distinct issues: (1) the extent to which a government agency can regulate the process and form of public comments; and (2) what remedies are available for violations of public comment rules. We will first address limitations on public comment, and then we will share information about the Brown Act’s remedies […]

    April 3, 2025

  • Posts

    FAC Opposes Legislation that Would Weaken Public Oversight of Government Officials in California

    It’s about accountability We are writing to alert you to legislation pending in California that would take the wrong lesson from the pandemic and weaken open- government laws under the guise of increasing remote access to meetings. The most problematic provisions undermine the democratic values of open government and oversight of our public institutions […]

    May 13, 2022

  • Pages

    Request a Training

    FAC hosts training sessions for the press and public on a variety of open government and First Amendment topics. Below are examples of sessions we offer, which can be conducted virtually or in person, and feature experts in First Amendment, public access, and newsgathering issues. If you would like to bring FAC to your […]

    June 12, 2024

  • Latest News

    Blog

    Short Takes: government email, historical police records, fee awards against requesters

    […] Federal Records Act amendment which addresses this question: Suppose a federal employee, using his own personal text or email account, sends a message that is clearly about government business? The Federal Records Act amendment, at section 2911, says that the employee is now required either to copy "an official electronic messaging account . . […]

    January 21, 2015

  • Latest News

    Rating the leading Presidential candidates on First Amendment issues. And the winner is . . .

    […] few weeks, it's worth considering how the leading contenders compare in their commitment to First Amendment rights. All political leaders are champions of free speech and open- government--in a vacuum. The real question is how they would balance those principles against competing interests in decisions involving issues of national security, economic policy and the […]

    June 3, 2009

  • Latest News

    Blog

    Leaks in the Age of Trump–The Coming Flood

    […] quarry for the conventional press, he is likely to  be a never-ending font of leak-inspired journalism.   Chaos begets dissension, and dissension within the close ranks of government bureaucracy leads, inevitably, to leaks.   Career public servants ignored by the boss will try to find someone else to tell.  Reporters who don’t get their calls […]

    January 4, 2017

  • Latest News

    Brown signs anti-sunshine bill, setting up 1st Amdt battle. Do labor rights trump democracy?

    […] to receive information from their elected officials, and by elected officials’ derivative First Amendment rights to communicate with constituents about matters of public importance—-which union contracts covering government employees surely are.  These communications are the essence of democracy, enabling the people to hold government accountable. And the essence of democracy is non-negotiable (to paraphrase […]

    October 27, 2015

  • Latest News

    Blog Cases

    Big victory in CA Supreme Court case on public access to government data

    In a major victory for open government and data access, the California Supreme Court yesterday ruled that Orange County cannot restrict access to its electronic mapping data--a so-called "basemap." The Court decided unanimously that the county basemap is a public record under the Public Records Act, which means that it must be made available […]

    July 10, 2013