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Explainers
First Amendment and Government Transparency Explainers
July 3, 2024
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Showing 1 - 10 of 1808 results
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Handbooks
California Brown Act Primer
The Ralph M. Brown Act, one of California’s main sunshine laws, is intended to provide public access to meetings of local government agencies.September 8, 2024
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Latest News
Most Wanted Secret Doc: Justice Dept Memo Analyzing Drone Strikes Against Suspected Terrorists
[…] now. First are Mitt Romney's undisclosed tax returns. You already know about those. The other is a classified legal memorandum, prepared by the Justice Department, analyzing the government's legal authority to conduct targeted killings of terrorists abroad-including, specifically, terrorists who are U.S. citizens. Interest in this memo intensified following a 2011 drone strike in […]August 27, 2012
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Handbooks
California Public Records Act Primer
"A popular government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy." ―James MadisonJuly 8, 2024
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Handbooks
Reporter’s Field Guide: Data Sources in California
[…] examples of stories and reports that show how the data has been used previously. The majority of the data we’ve highlighted here is shared directly by the government, but we have also highlighted some data from other sources, including nonprofits and other groups. (Those are included under the subhead non-governmental sources.) These are a […]January 29, 2026
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Handbooks
Police Transparency Handbook
For decades, California was one of the most secretive states when it came to internal law enforcement records, with officers having more privacy protections than other government employees. This veil of secrecy began to lift starting in 2019, after California passed landmark legislation that made certain use-of-force and officer misconduct records accessible under the […]September 6, 2024
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Pages
Free Speech & Open Government Award
Honoring Outstanding Contributions To Free Speech and Open GovernmentJuly 3, 2024
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Latest News
Government officials use personal email and texting to avoid public access laws. Why not use technology to enhance accountability instead of to subvert it?
By PETER SCHEER---All public officials favor open government in principle. Who would dare say otherwise? In reality, however, they are in a perpetual search, guided by clever lawyers, for new ways to circumvent disclosure requirements--at best, because they view requests for records as a nuisance, and at worst, because they have something to hide […]August 22, 2009
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Posts
Vote YES on Prop 42 if you value open-government. Vote no if you prefer secrecy.
Prop 42, on the ballot for California's June 4 election, will amend the Constitution to assure that local governments are legally bound to observe open- government requirements. If you prefer transparency to secrecy in your city government, local school board or county government, then the choice is clear: You should vote for Prop 42. […]May 13, 2014
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Posts
Prop. 42 Background from the Legislative Analyst’s Office
[…] governments. Californians receive services from thousands of local governments—counties, cities, school and community college districts, and special districts (such as fire districts, flood control districts, and water districts). Each local government has a local governing body (such asa city council or county board of supervisors) that makes decisions about its programs, services, and operations. Public Access to Local […]April 23, 2014