New California Law Attempts to Sidestep CPRA

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A new bill, sponsored by ballotpedia:Mike Eng, a member of the ballotpedia:California State Assembly, is making a seriouss attempt to sidestep the California Public Records Act by limiting public access to publicly created documentation.

[edit] AB 1336

The bill, AB 1336, would permit cities to place cameras on public street sweeping vehicles throughout California in order to photograph parking violations. However, what has freedom of information rights activists angered is the portion of the bill which explicitly exempts these photos from public records requests. By creating an exemption outside of the CPRA, the California legislature establishes their power to ear mark exemptions within future bills and thus sidestep the CPRA in an obvious move towards secrecy.[1]

[edit] AB 101

While this bill would deal an unfortunate blow to public records requests, it is not without precedent. AB 1336 piggybacks off of California Bill AB 101, passed in 2007, which permitted the city of San Fransisco to place cameras on municipal buses to monitor illegal parking in transit lanes. This bill also passed with an exemption from public records requests, stating that,

Notwithstanding Section 6253 of the Government Code [the California Public Records Act] or any other provision of the law, the video image records are confidential. Public agencies shall use and allow access to these records only for the purposes authorized by this article.[2]

The bill passed with an outstanding majority of 67-2 with senators arguing in favor of the exemption based on the invasion of privacy that may occur to bystanders photographed by the public buses.

[edit] Lobbying

However, what may potentially be more detrimental to the cause of public access to records were the lobbying methods used to pass this bill. Public records advocates began to search through contracts made by the City of San Fransisco with lobbying firms and determined that the was city funding lobbyists to advocate for bills that would restrict access to government records. Thus, the city of San Fransisco was using public funds to advocate bills that went against the CPRA and clearly against the public interest. While it is unclear whether San Fransisco was again spending public funds on AB 1336, they have, none-the-less, announced their support of the bill along with Los Angeles and San Diego[3]

[edit] See Also

[edit] External Links

[edit] References

  1. ↑ San Fransisco Weekly, San Francisco Pushing for More Government Secrecy -- Yes, Again
  2. ↑ San Fransisco Weekly, Critics Accuse City of Paying Lobbyists to Weaken Public Access Laws
  3. ↑ San Fransisco Weekly, San Francisco Pushing for More Government Secrecy -- Yes, Again
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