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The California Public Records Act gives people the right to inspect and obtain copies of government records that are non-privileged and non-exempt. It was enacted in 1968 to: (1) safeguard the accountability of government to the public, (2) promote maximum disclosure of the conduct of governmental operations, and (3) explicitly acknowledge the principle that secrecy is antithetical to a democratic system of “government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

To put it another way, it’s a commitment to Open Government. But, it’s also being abused by a savvy few who don’t seek to hold a public agency accountable for anything expect monetary damages. It’s also being weaponized by predatory lawyers as a way to obtain discovery outside the parameters of the California Code of Civil Procedure.

It always challenging to represent a public agency in civil litigation only to find out that the agency has already responded to a CPRA request. You can imagine how frustrating it is to also find out that records have been produced earlier and you haven’t made a consistent response to written discovery.

Transparency in government is an important concept. But, public agencies have to be careful that they are being consistent in their responses and mindful of the privacy rights of third parties. They also have to be mindful that some unscrupulous individuals use the CPRA just to see if an agency will respond in the first place without any real intent to obtain the actual records.

In this episode: 

• The background of the CPRA
• Improperly withholding records
• Who can request records
• Being protective of certain records

THE FINE PRINT
This podcast is for general information only and not intended to be legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer-client relationship. The views, information, and opinions expressed on our podcast are Scott’s and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of any other person, agency, organization or company. Finally, we know that a few dastardly plaintiff's lawyers will get their hands on this. So . . . let's be clear: Don't even think of using the information in this podcast to sue public agencies because this podcast is not intended nor shall it be construed to give any person any legal or equitable rights, remedies or claims.

Music: ”Dangerous" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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