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Brown Act First Amendment

Does Brown Act Permit City Council’s New Rules of Decorum?

[…] this statutory requirement, the First Amendment guards against regulations that are too restrictive of speech. Regulations should be "content neutral" and narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and they must allow ample alternative channels of communication. See, e.g., Perry Educ. Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators’ Ass’n, 460 U.S. 37, 45 (1983). Generally […]

May 21, 2018
Asked and Answered

CPRA

How to I get city to admit to under-reporting employee compensation?

[…] employees should generally be public.International Federation of Processional Engineers v. Superior Court, 42 Cal. 4th 319, 331 ("[t]he 'broadly based and widely accepted community norm[]' applicable to government employee salary information is public disclosure"). However, it sounds like you may have obtained the information you requested and are instead considering what action you might […]

October 22, 2010
Asked and Answered

City says building plans can be viewed but not copied

[…] legislative history of § 19851 is not readily available, that statute might be read as formalizing a procedure to avoid incurring copyright liability to the extent the government has mandated that architects' works be deposited with a government agency. Bryan Cave LLP is general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition and responds to First […]

September 19, 2012
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Can I access attorney’s retainer agreement and invoices via the Public Records Act?

[…] § 6255(a). If I am understanding your question, you are trying to get records relating to an invoice and retainer agreement with outside counsel hired by a government agency. Agencies may claim such documents are exempt from disclosure under the pending litigation exemption contained in the Public Records Act under Government Code section 6254(b), or […]

July 2, 2015
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Does Brown Act allow City secrecy about power plant plans?

[…] disclosure, you will likely be able to recover your legal fees from the Commission. 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 but cannot provide specific legal advice or representation.

June 14, 2013
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Are school district “fact-finding” committee meetings public?

[…] created by formal action, but falls under the ad hoc sub-quorum committee exemption, then the committee does not have to adhere to the Brown Act's meeting requirements. Government Code § 54952(b). On the other hand, if the committee is a standing committee, which has "continuing jurisdiction" over a particular subject matter (e.g., budget, finance, […]

March 8, 2016
Asked and Answered

First Amendment

1st amendment right to porn denied by senior center

[…] said, there are several conditions under which the the dissemination of non-obscene sexual materials may nevertheless be restricted. First, the First Amendment restricts only the acts of government. Thus if the senior center is a private facility, and not run by the government, the senior center would be free to adopt its own policies. […]

June 10, 2013
Asked and Answered

Court Records CPRA Police Records

Denied access to supervision records of high-risk parolee

[…] records of supervision for a high-risk parolee who is accused of murder. I sent a public records request and received a rejection letter that cites dozens of government codes in its defense. But I wonder if there's a way to fight that rejection. After all, that information has become public in several high-profile cases […]

November 30, 2011
Asked and Answered

CPRA

Agency claims my CPRA requests via email are “not public records act request”

[…] is no set form or process that must be followed to make a public records, except that a request must "reasonably describe an identifiable record or records." Government Code § 6253(b). Requests need not even be in writing, although doing so creates a record of when you made your request (in case you decide […]

March 30, 2012
Asked and Answered

CPRA

My PRA request denied, but Buzzfeed published documents on similar case

[…] of 2015, I received a letter from the CBOP citing me for a total of $5000. I was advised by my attorney that since it is a government agency, the citation cannot be fought like a criminal case or a civil case. He called it per se. So I am making payments on it. […]

September 2, 2016