From San Jose Mercury News: A state Court of Appeal has ruled that a small-town California newspaper publisher does not have to pay legal fees to a school board he sued over his public records request —a decision hailed by First Amendment advocates as a victory for government transparency.
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Read More… from Small California publisher wins public records case
From inewsource: In the midst of an inewsource investigation and with state and federal agencies eyeing its practices, the North County Transit District is considering a policy change that would direct employees to delete certain emails after 60 days.
NCTD currently keeps emails, which often are important documentation of official public business, for two years. The NCTD board is scheduled to vote on the matter Thursday, and it comes at a key point in the agency’s accountability.
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Read More… from County transit district (Cal.) set to change email retention policy
From Wired: California’s public-records law received a major boost Monday when the state Supreme Court decided local government must turn over mapping data without charging excessive fees.
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Read More… from California public records law strengthened by ruling on mapping data
From KTVU.com: A state Senate committee on Tuesday advanced a swiftly drafted constitutional amendment that would affirm the public's right to inspect documents held by local governments and clarifying that those agencies — not the state — should pay for making their records available.
The amendment passed the Senate Governance and Finance Committee on a 7-0 vote.
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Read More… from California Senate committee passes public records amendment
The California Public Records Act (CPRA) is gravely threatened by stealth amendments revealed for the first time yesterday as part of a "trailer bill" to the new state budget. Instead of the relatively minor cost-saving tweaks proposed earlier by the Governor and approved in legislative committees, the actual amending language will gut key transparency safeguards in California's most important open-government law.
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Read More… from California Public Records Act gravely threatened by stealth amendments
From First Amendment Coalition:
In a big victory for open government, a Superior Court judge in San Jose has ruled that the state’s Public Records Act applies to government officials’ emails and texts about government business–EVEN IF those messages are sent or received using the officials’ private email or text accounts, rather than accounts belonging to the government.
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Read More… from Peter Scheer: Judge plugs “private email” loophole in CA public records law
