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Q: I am interested in a possible cause of action arising from events at a meeting of the high school Site Council, at which public comment was cut off by the chair. The individual was repeatedly ruled “out of order.” The person was then ordered out of the meeting and, when he failed to comply, [...]
Q: I was fired a year ago, but I am only now reading that the board violated the Brown Act by not disclosing that my position would be discussed in closed session — 54957. (2) is the violation. I see from your A&A section that there is only only a 90-day window of opportunity to [...]
Q: Our local water district board is appointing new general counsel. They have agendized this in a special meeting, allowing each prospect to give a presentation on their firm in open session. After each presentation, the board went into closed session pursuant to GC 54957(b)(1), ”Public Employee Appointment: General Counsel.” I have never seen this [...]
Q: I believe Community College Faculty Senates are subject to the Brown Act? If so, must these bodies disclose how each member voted on an item? I teach at a community college. My program was asked to make some amendments to an item, otherwise an individual told us she would challenge the matter. We made [...]
Q: We are trying to obtain records from an engineering contractor on a multi-billion dollar project they have with the state. In addition, we are seeking contracts, correspondence, etc. pertaining to the project between this engineering firm and multiple sub-consultants they have hired. Will FOIA allow us to obtain contracts between prime consultants and their [...]
Q: To what extent are school district settlement agreements public when they contain confidential student information? A: Copies of settlement agreements that school districts enter into are subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act. Although it should generally be possible to draft a settlement agreement without including material so sensitive that it qualifies for [...]
Q: I requested documents regarding disciplinary action taken against me by my employer, a metro department of transportation. It’s been more than a month and I’ve not received a reply. What would be the next course of action? A: The Public Records Act gives local agencies 10 days to respond to a request for a [...]
Q: A recent CPRA to obtain correspondence from the individual elected members of the a natural resource oversight committee and the individual appointed members of the Wastewater Task Group either among themselves or to third parties was denied by the Community Development Commission (CDC) on the basis that neither neither entity was a “public agency.” [...]
Q: I am considering a request for the 1099 form issued by a local agency to their general counsel. They are the worst violators of CPRA I have ever experienced. If I do not cite very specific statute and write the request so carefully that virtually all possibilities of misconstruction are eliminated, I will get [...]
Q: A county water agency has hired a consultant for a major capital project and has released the feasibility study done by the consultant but has not responded for a request to review the consulting contract itself. This isn’t academic: the agency asserts that the consultants’ excel spread sheet originals containing the actual cell-by-cell math [...]
Q: A council member has claimed in public meetings and in the press to have received email regarding a particular issue. Our PRA requesting those email have been rejected by the city because they do not have email accounts for council members. However on the city website the link to contact council members is the [...]
Q: I’m trying to obtain records for the LA United School District’s spending for 2010 in digital format, but the LA USD Office of the General Counsel is asking for 25 cents per page to send the digital information to us. They’ve explained that this is based on the usual fee rate for pages that [...]
Q: I have concerns that my school District has violated the Brown Act. When the school board made our interim Superintendent a permanent Superintendent without any public input because it wasn’t properly agendized. I am also concerned that a committee I serve on has been deemed a closed door confidential meeting per the Brown Act. [...]
Q: Two years ago, I filed a citizens complaint with the Sheriff’s Department. This complaint was against the sheriff and his deputies. I have requested copies of all documents compiled in their internal investigation and they have informed me that documents concerning personnel are exempt. I just want copies of my complaint plus any correspondence [...]
Q: My CPRA request to review the 911 recording/transcript of a 2003 death was denied by the LAPD. While the cause of death was determined to be a knife wound the coroner declined to rule on whether the incident was a suicide or homicide. Prior to my formal request, the police refused to discuss the [...]
Q: At a recent Town Hall meeting, water rates were discussed. A majority of directors of the water district were in attendance to answer any questions. They did not notice this meeting. Items were discussed that they will vote on. Is this a Brown Act violation? A: Under the Brown Act, a “meeting” includes any [...]
Q: The city department of Code Enforcement wants to fine me $2500 per day up to $100,000 for code violations at my resident. When I made a public record request to see the evidence that the City’s has gathered on my property, it was denied stating that the case is still open and considered an [...]
Q: Two family members were involved in a murder/suicide. On the night of the incident the homicide detective told me I would be able to get copies of the investigation once done. The investigation is done, but I am being told that I have no right to files and that the homicide dept. does not [...]
Q: After nearly two years of trying, we finally got a photograph of three of our County Board of Supervisors (we have a five member Board) having lunch together as they regularly do. We can’t take it to the DA as he has been compromised as has our County Counsel. What can we do? A: [...]
Q: During a hearing on a massive development project the several county supervisors walked around the room, talked on cell phones, or to each other or staff, worked on their computers and otherwise did not listen to any of the public testimony. This is particularly discouraging because this is a massive project with terrible impacts [...]
Q: Can a private company make a profit by selling public information? Or is there a law that says they cannot take public information and charge people to look at it? A: There is no restriction on a private entity that obtains public records from charging someone for copies of those records. The Public Records [...]
Q: I have a small group that would like to do a small Black Friday protest that would be focused on expressing gratitude and inviting passers-by to do the same (probably via posters, video messages, and large white boards) as an alternative to consumerism. I would like to know where we can protest. We want [...]
Q: I am a city commissioner, and I was recently advised against voicing my opinion to the press on any subject that is or in the future may be under my commission’s jurisdiction. The concern is that later other commissioners may choose to speak to the press on the same subject and give rise to [...]
Q: Does California Ed Code 48907 apply to non-print media (ie: school news broadcasts via TV or internet)? If not, is there another code protecting non-print media and if so, where can I find documentation to support an effort to protect the same freedoms as EC 48907 for my TV Broadcasting students in a high [...]
Q: Can the police videotape interactions with the public without the public’s consent? Not just in public, where there may be less of an expectation of privacy, but when they enter an apartment or home (permissive entry), and they do not ask permission to videotape but do so anyway with hidden video cameras? A: You [...]
Q: Message I’m trying to obtain 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 [...]
Q: As a school board member I have tried, but failed, to have the copious exorbitant legal billings by the district’s attorney released to the public. So far the attorney’s fees of $50k to $70k per month (the amount of almost $1million is rapidly approaching) have been discussed in closed session and the rest of the [...]
Q: I am a newly elected school board member. Our upcoming agenda will contain a closed session item that has also been discussed in closed session prior to my appointment. Can I ask the staff and board members who participated in the prior closed session to divulge what was discussed? A: I am not aware [...]
Q: I’m a reporter trying to access information regarding a lawsuit against the local school district. A decision was made but so far, no documents of that decision have reached the court records department. The only document filed is a single-page notation that the case was heard. There’s no indication the records have been sealed. [...]
Q: I submitted a request arrest and incident reports from a police department for a case involving my client but I got a call from someone in the Records Department who said that I needed to submit signed authorization from my client. Is that the case in your practice? A: If a person were submitting [...]
Q: I was wondering if a city councilmember uses his personal email address as his primary source of contact, lists it on a city’s website as his email address, if any communication done on that email address is still exempt from the California Public Records Act? Is any legislation is coming down the line to [...]
Q: I am writing today for guidance regarding my rights as a blogger. I am the author of a cosmetics complaints blog and creator and one of the admins of the complaints Facebook Page. The blog and page initially were started in an effort to obtain a refund from a cosmetics company due to sanitation [...]
Q: Recently the city manager sent an e-mail to the president of the senior center regarding complaints his office had received about the local newspaper’s political cartoons being posted on the wall inside the senior center. While the senior center is owned by the city, a local nonprofit pays rent on the building, maintains it [...]
Q: Our newspaper made an public records request for ”all emails to and from city employees” regarding a new parking meter system the city is using. Our intention is to see whether employees have written emails stating that the system is not working properly. In response, the city attorney exempted an unspecified number of emails [...]
Q: My local downtown association, was created in 1987 by a resolution from our City Council, in accordance with the California Parking and Business Improvement Law of 1979 (amended 1989). Organization is classified as a 501 (c)(6). The organization used to received money annually from the City, but no longer does. The City Council reviews [...]
Q: After holding closed door negotiations with a public coalition that included the local union, the Port of San Diego announced a hotel development deal that included a Project Labor Agreement with the union. The development will be build on public tidelands, which sacrifices the Port Master Plan-designated parkland. Were the extensive secret labor negotiations [...]
Q: I am a journalist and victims advocate. I wanted to know about whether it was possible to get records of payments made by all County agencies–including the District Attorney’s office–to a child psychiatrist. The psychiatrist was arrested for molesting hundreds of boys and was under contract to the courts for four decades. We have [...]
Q: The police are refusing to release a report it is doing on a shooting. Many months have passed since the incident. They give no explanation for their actions. What would be the best way to proceed to get them to release the report? A: As you may know, under California’s Public Records Act, public [...]
Q: We are attempting to obtain arrest logs and mugshots or the booking photos associated with each arrest from local police jurisdictions for the purpose of crime statistical data gathering. We are asking for data on a consistent basis, i.e. daily email, weekly spreadsheets etc. Some jurisdictions have supplied the arrest logs but no photos. [...]
Q: Can an internal investigation conducted by a city be obtained by an individual. The essence of the investigation is the purchase of equipment from a company and paying twice the amount quoted by another company for the same exact equipment. The difference in price was $25,000. The copy of the outcome of the investigation [...]
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