FAC leads amicus signed by 90+ publications in Brown Act case begun by the late Rich McKee

A FAC led amicus brief joined by more than 90 newspapers and other publications was filed Thursday in an appeal of a Brown Act law suit involving  the Tulare County Board of Supervisors.  The suit challenges the supervisors’ practice of holding lunchtime meetings–regularly and often–that were nonpublic and held without notification to the public or [...]

Appeal filed in case of Tulare County supervisors’ ‘unofficial’ lunch meetings

The First Amendment Coalition and a number of newspapers across the state are appealing a case involving an alleged Brown Act violation by the Tulare County Board of Supervisors who held 30 lunch meetings without public participation. A superior court judge dismissed the suit as lacking factual basis to proceed to trial. The appeal is [...]

FAC files suit for access to report on hazardous toxins found in Calabasas

The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) has filed suit against the city of Calabasas to compel disclosure of an inspection report on conditions in an unoccupied residential property potentially posing health risks to nearby residents. The city, despite repeated requests, has refused to release a copy of the report to a neighbor, Gail Reznik, and other [...]

FAC, News media urge Supreme Court to limit FOIA exemption in case heard this week

The US Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments in a FOIA personnel exemption case,  Milner v. Department of the Navy.  FAC along with 19 other news organizations filed an amicus brief for the case. The Washington Post‘s and other news accounts suggest the Court was skeptical of the government’s effort to expand a seemingly narrow FOIA [...]

CalPERs docs on FAC website raise new questions on failed $100M real estate deal

Documents released this week to FAC show CalPERS sensed trouble with its East Palo Alto real estate investment about two years before Page Mill’s collapse. Documents: CalPERS’ $100 million Page Mill loss Pension fund lost $100 million by investing in Page Mill Properties of Palo Alto by Gennady Sheyner Palo Alto Online StaffIn December 2008, [...]

FAC wins case against CalPERS for records on disastrous real estate investment

The Superior Court in San Francisco ruled Tuesday in FAC’s favor against CalPERS regarding access to records on their PageMill real estate investment. According to the ruling (FAC v CalPERS Order), the Court agreed with FAC that Govt Code section 6254.26, the exemption for certain information related to “alternative investments,”  does NOT apply to real [...]

PRESS RELEASE: FAC Suit Against CalPERS Seeks Records on Controversial E Palo Alto Real Estate Investment

FAC—Monday July 19—The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) today announced that it has sued CalPERS, the retirement system for California government workers, over access to records about the agency’s ill-fated investment in an East Palo Alto residential real estate development that has gone bust–at a loss to CalPERS of all of its $100 million stake in [...]

FAC files Brown Act suit alleging pattern & practice of “notice” violations by LA City Council

FAC–The First Amendment Coalition has filed suit against the Los Angeles City Council over the Council’s failure to tell the public, in advance, that it was about to consider and vote on layoffs of thousands of government workers. FAC’s suit, claiming a “pattern and practice” of violations of the Brown Act, requests declaratory and injunctive [...]

If China unplugs Google, it will be the first time China’s people will know what they are not being allowed to see. This should give the censors pause.

BY PETER SCHEER–Google’s high-stakes confrontation with China’s government has entered a new, and uncertain, phase. Making good on its threat to cease censorship of search results on its China-based site, Google.cn, Google has begun redirecting users in China to its uncensored Chinese-language site based in Hong Kong, google.com.hk. China’s censors now face a difficult choice. [...]

Court rules CA counties must disclose pension amounts paid to government retirees

Nov 6, 2009—In a case filed by the First Amendment Coalition, the Modesto Bee and the California Newspaper Publishers Association, a California Superior Court has ruled that county governments, upon request, must disclose–by name–their retirees’ pension payments. The Superior Court for Stanislaus County reasoned that the public interest in access to government employees’ pensions outweighs [...]

Texas open meeting law supported by FAC amicus stands

The Texas Open Meetings Act supported by an FAC amicus brief withstood a constitutional challenge by former city council members who asserted the law violated their rights to exchange e-mail messages discussing city business in secret. September 10, 2009 After four years of litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Dallas (5th Cir.) today  dismissed [...]

FAC files amicus in US Sup Ct free speech / campaign contributions case

The First Amendment Coalition has filed an amicus brief in Citizens United v. FEC, the US Supreme Court case involving First Amendment challenges to federal campaign finance laws regulating corporate political speech during elections. The Court held this case over for re-argument in September and invited briefing on broader issues than the case originally had [...]

Settlement in Database Access Suit Announced

BERKELEY, CA, June 16 —The California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) and MAPLight.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization that shows the connection between money and politics, announced today that they have settled their freedom of information lawsuit against the Office of Legislative Counsel of California, having gained the object of their suit: a machine-readable database of [...]

Schwarzenegger’s Calendars

Schwarzenegger’s Calendars CFAC sued Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to obtain his calendars of meetings and those of his top aides. CFAC argued that a state Supreme Court decision sustaining a denial of access to these records was implicitly overturned by Prop 59, which the governor had championed during the election. Schwarzenegger settled, agreeing to turn over [...]

CFAC v. CalPERS

CFAC v. CalPERS CFAC successfully sued CALPERS, California’s public employee retirement system, to force it to disclose the management fees it pays to venture capital, private equity, and hedge funds in which CALPERS invests. Because of its huge size, CALPERS is the de facto standard-setter for the pension industry nationally. When CALPERS settled CFAC’s suit, [...]

CFAC v. Santa Clara

CFAC v. Santa Clara County Decisions Legal Documents Press Releases In the news Decisions May 18, 2007 California Superior Court rules in favor of CFAC Legal briefs and other major pleadings (by date) California 6th Appellate Court of Appeals April 11, 2008 CFAC ‘Return’ – Main Merits Brief on Appeal July 5, 2007 Santa Clara [...]

China/WTO

CFAC Taking on the Great Firewall of China CFAC has initiated a proceeding that will attempt to use international trade laws to force the government of China to end its censorship of the internet. In a submission and presentation to the Office of the US Trade Representative, CFAC has petitioned for the filing of a [...]

CFAC files brief to lift gag in BART homicide case

The California First Amendment Coalition has asked a Superior Court judge in Oakland to rescind his gag order in the highly publicized prosecution of a former BART police officer who is charged with murder for the shooting death–captured on numerous cellphone videos uploaded to Youtube–of Oscar Grant III on New Year’s Day. The Coalition’s brief, [...]

CFAC and MAPLight sue for public access to state’s legislative database

The California First Amendment Coalition filed suit today against the Legislative Counsel’s office in Sacramento. With our co-petitioner, MAPLight.org, we are seeking a copy of California’s full legislative database–the texts of bills, amendments, votes, dates, etc.—for all legislation. Although the public currently can access this info one bill at a time through the state’s official [...]

CFAC sponsors bill to prevent agencies from using anti-SLAPP law to deter citizens' open-gov suits

The California First Amendment Coalition is sponsoring legislation to limit the risk assumed by those who resort to court to force local and state agencies to comply with the open records and open meetings laws. The bill, SB 786, has been introduced by State Senator Leland Yee. SB 786 is directed to lawsuits in which [...]

Appeal judges hear arguments in CFAC's suit for release of county's digital mapping database

CFAC is awaiting a decision in an appeal of its trial court victory against Santa Clara County for release of the county’s digital “basemap” of real estate parcels, which can be used in various digital mapping applications. Santa Clara County, which has licensed the basemap for tens-of-thousands of dollars, now claims release of the files [...]

CFAC joins appeal to permit webcasting of file-sharing case in federal court

CFAC has joined a legal brief urging the federal Court of Appeals in Boston to allow the webcasting of court hearings in a music file-sharing lawsuit filed by the recording industry. Although TV cameras are permitted in California state trial courts on a case-by-case basis, few federal courts have allowed cameras since an experiment in [...]

Major newspapers back CFAC/MAPlight lawsuit to expand public access to Legislative actions

The San Francisco Chronicle and Sacramento Bee have endorsed a lawsuit by the California First Amendment Coalition and MAPlight.org to open the state Legislature’s entire database of bills, votes and amendments to public view. The state currently allows the public to see only one bill at a time — in a form that makes it [...]

Update on open-government legislative proposals in Sacramento

AB 1978 AB 1978, a Bill that would have closed public access to ‘basemap’ data for Geographic Information Systems (GIS), put forth by Assemblymember Jose Solorio, was dropped after opposition from the GIS/GeoData and freedom of information communities. GIS “basemap” data is used to create the base layer for all local computer mapping. The bill [...]

In far-reaching decision, Appeals Court affirms public's right to county mapping database

By Peter Scheer In a stunning victory for freedom of information advocates, a California appeals court has sustained a public right of access to a government database that makes possible highly accurate digital mapping. Holding that Santa Clara County must make public its geographic information system (GIS) parcel “basemap,” which shows real estate parcel boundaries, [...]