A&A: Can City Attorney Withhold 911 Call Transcripts?

Q: A county supervisor called 911 to report what he described as an assault with several punches thrown at him. The local police department investigated and determined witnesses saw no punches thrown. After some delay, the city attorney has released the police investigative documents. Thus far, they have refused to release transcripts of the phone [...]

In Separate Moves, State and Federal Courts in California OK Policy Changes Allowing Greater Public Access

BY PETER SCHEER — The courts in California are often criticized for being out of step with the rest of the country. A willingness among judges to deviate from national orthodoxy is not necessarily a bad thing, however.
Just this week the administrative arm of the California Supreme Court adopted a rule providing public access to [...]

New rule allows public access to administrative records of California courts

The California Judicial Council approved a new Rule of Court this week giving the public a right of access to administrative records of Superior and Appellate courts and the Administrative Office of the Courts. The rule will be in effect January of next year and is modeled after the California Public Records Act. -DB

Legislative Bulletin
California [...]

A&A: City gives tax-free deal to developer, details kept secret

Q: The city recently entered into an agreement with a developer of a multi-million dollar resort hotel to forgo collecting transit occupancy taxes (TOT) of many million dollars. The city’s financial consultant analyzed the request from the developer and created several reports that were not made available to the public. The reports were presented to [...]

A&A:City wants me to pay to see report on fire at my house

Q: I just requested an incident report from the Fire Department relating to a fire at my property. They wanted to charge me $16 just to view the record, and said that they had been authorized to do so by the City Council.  Is this legal?  GovC 6253(b) authorizes charges “… of fees covering direct [...]

A&A: Denial of access to records during business hours

Q: On at least four occasions , I have gone to the Park and Recreation Department to review public records (on site, in the building) during normal business hours and I have been sent away. If at all possible, I would like to file a motion this week to force the department to allow me [...]

A&A: Councilman asks intern on date via city issued cell

Q: I have learned that a city councilman was sending text messages to a city intern, asking her for a date. I would like to file a CPR request for the text messages sent from his city issued Blackberry. I’m sure they (the councilman and the city attorney) would try to argue that such a [...]

A&A:City Surveillance Cameras and Public Records Law

Q: Are city-owned and operated surveillance camera recordings of public areas subject to disclosure in accordance with the California Public Records Law?
A: Under the Public Records Act, public records — which include “any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any [...]

A&A: Online arrest records no longer show violations

Q: I have received conflicting information from public records experts and police public information officers on what law enforcement agencies have to release relating to arrest history. So, let me ask you directly, if I submit a request to a police department in California that asks if John Doe, DOB 1/1/60, has ever been arrested [...]

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 the [...]

California governor issues veto messages for free speech and open government bills

In vetoing SB218 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was for openness and transparency but felt that defining private auxiliary organizations as public under state public records acts would cause the state to lose the support of the organizations when the higher educations institutions were suffering significant budget cuts. In regard to SB 242, the governor said no business [...]

$100 fees for copies of unclaimed property data too high

Q: I am freelance journalist taking issue with the fees charged by the California Comptroller’s Office to provide copies of the digital files of lists of abandoned/unclaimed property.
The Comptroller produces well over 1,000 of these discs each month and charges $100 each. Once the computer file is downloaded from his mainframe, the actual cost [...]

Public should know if school employee embezzled $2m

Q: I have some information and documentation that a school district employee in Administrative Services was dismissed from her job for embezzling at least $2 million in district funds.  The employee was allowed to retire with benefits. Without Federal stimulus funds the district would be facing an $11 million deficit this year.
I believe warrants further [...]