California Public Records Law

= Short Description =

The California Public Records Act (CPRA) is designed to give the public access to public records. According to the BGA-Alper Integrity Index of 2008, California ranks 45th for its open-meetings laws and 17th for its open-records laws. In March 2011, the Pacific Research Institute drafted policy recommendations for ways California can expand access to state government.

Who is covered?

 * The governor, state courts, and executive branch advisory boards are covered by the California Public Records Act. The state legislature is specifically exempt from the CPRA and instead subject to the Legislative Open Records Act, which includes a number of broad exemptions. California also has a broad "public interest" exception to the public records law and exempts "working papers" or correspondence within the Governor's office.

What is the process like?

 * State agencies have 10 days to respond to an initial records request (the average among states is 7 days). Agencies can charge fees, not including staff time, for the duplication or copying of public records. The state does not have a specific provision that guarantees that a requester can ask for a specific format when asking for a public record.

Most recent changes?
= Legislation =

The following are bills introduced in 2011: to prepare and maintain a monthly public record of all expenditures of the distric
 * SB 479 - A bill to require the governing board of a school district
 * AB 392 - A bill to clarify that documents distributed prior to 72 hours before a public meeting to a majority of public board members shall be made available to the public when it is published to the board.

= Articles, Blog Posts, etc =


 * Portantino bill would unlock secrets of lawmakers' budgets - Valley Sun, Aug. 26, 2011
 * Only one legislator releases budget info - Sign On San Diego, Aug. 24, 2011
 * Assembly Republicans start releasing office spending records - Sacramento Bee, Aug. 23, 2011
 * Legislation would expand public record laws at public universities - Official Wire, Aug. 18, 2011
 * Viewpoints: Gov. Brown needs to show us the checkbook - Sacramento Bee, Jul. 31, 2011
 * It's wrong to ax city emails - Bakersfield.com, Jun. 18, 2011