A&A: City avoiding disclosure of personal email

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 [...]

A&A: The author of requested emails assigned to fulfill PRA request

Q: I requested information regarding communications of someone who works directly for our County and also is on our City Council. The County Administrator gave her the PRA request and is allowing her to fulfill it herself. Is this legal? I requested emails to a certain person from her. A: The Public Records Act does [...]

A&A: Can a city deny a CPRA request because files are archived?

Q: As part of a course I teach, and in collaboration with some public interest law firms, I served a CPRA request  that included a request for certain emails. The response was that the city in question archives its emails after three months and it would costs “many tens of thousands of dollars” to restore [...]

A&A: School personnel campaigning on public dime

Q: Can I request emails from the school district without using an attorney? I want to request emails between the superintendent and other employees, assistant superintendent and union reps, and board members and school employees? Reason: I have seen hard evidence that they are campaigning on school time, using equipment to run campaigning materials and [...]

A&A: Mayor up for reelection wants to stifle public comment on candidates

Q: The mayor who is running for reelection is currently advancing a policy revision to stifle the public comments during City Council meetings of anyone who is speaking to a ballot initiative or on a candidate. Recently the mayor discussed the changes she’s proposing in an interview with a local newspaper and mentioned email communication [...]

A&A: How does the CPRA deal with emails between elected officials

Q: Can email sent by a California Special District elected official to other directors or the district office concerning district business be subject to examination using the Public Records Act? Would it make a difference if he used his personal computer to send an email to another elected official? A: Under California’s Public Records Act, [...]

A&A:Board Conducting Public’s Business Via Private Emails

Q: It became apparent yesterday morning that the Board of Directors of our Community Services District is conducting a significant portion of its business via email.  The emails would have originated from at least six personal private computers. Such email has not been made part of the public record. Under CPRA I have requested copies [...]