(a) Every person has the right to inspect or copy any
public record made or received in connection with the official business of any public body, officer, or employee of the state, or persons acting on their behalf, except with respect to records exempted pursuant to this section or specifically made confidential by this [c]onstitution.
Public Record Media already has received "all responsive public data" pertinent to its request from the government, the agency insists.
It had also caught the city breaking the
public records act by not preserving and retaining all text messages from its employees and elected officials.
So she filed a
public records request, looking for data to back up her suspicion.
In what is being billed as a victory for government transparency, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that officials from state and local government (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3479637-S218066.html#document/p3/a341068) must disclose
public records even if those records are stored on private devices or accounts.
In an e-mail to reporters, Saunders wrote, "Once the term in office expires, the pages essentially expire." It is Saunders' view that social media is used to link constituents to
public records, and its contents are not
public records.
It would also require records to be provided in electronic form where available, aim to stop agencies from charging high fees for records, and require agencies to identify a point person to respond to
public record requests.
According to Noah Rosenblatt, head of real estate tracking site UrbanDigs.com, the lag time between when a residential sale is filed with the city and when it's recorded on
public record is great enough to distort monthly and quarterly reports.
As a general matter, it would not be permissible to create a new category of records entitled "electronic records" or "e-mail." The content of an electronic document determines whether or not it is a
public record and the district's corresponding retention obligation.
Sankey (founder and CEO of BRB Publications, Inc., a publisher of
public record research publications) and Hetherington (a licensed private investigator and president of the Hetherington Group) provide guidance to finding
public records and public information online.
"The
Public Record Research Tips Book: Insider Information for Effective
Public Record Research" is a complete and comprehensive guide to expertly searching the government's
public records files--covering all aspects of it.
Two other bills pending in the legislature, HB 9 and SB 302, would make the work papers
public record, though HB 9 would impact only future audits.