A Citizen’s Guide to Accessing Public Records
State of California Secretary of State
Do you believe that the actions of our elected government officials should be fully transparent? If not, what should be hidden from public oversight? Today’s mainstream news media and alternative media reflect a wide range of public appetites for information. Some media aim to shut out and shut down dissenting voices, while other media promulgate information that is impossible to verify. In an effort to find answers for myself on a local level, I decided to start requesting public records.
What is a Public Records Request?
The California Public Records Act of 2004, or PRA for short, prescribes almost full transparency for a healthy relationship between the government and the public, mirroring the federal law commonly known as “FOIA” (Freedom of Information Act). The law widely favors the public’s right of access to records over the government’s right to withhold those records. In fact, the public’s right of access is enshrined in Article 1, section 3, of our California Constitution:
(b) (1) The people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business, and, therefore, the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies shall be open to public scrutiny.
(2) A statute, court rule, or other authority . . . shall be broadly construed if it furthers the people’s right of access, and narrowly construed if it limits the right of access.
The PRA also defines which records should not be open to the public. These are called statutory exemptions. Examples would be records that compromise sensitive personal information, some law enforcement files, or privileged, confidential, or proprietary information. Another exemption is commonly called the “catch-all exemption.” If a public agency believes that the public interest served by withholding the record is outweighed by the public interest served by disclosing the record, it can claim this exemption, but the agency must demonstrate why it has claimed this exemption. Finally, agencies are not required to do research or otherwise create a record that does not exist or that is not maintained in the normal course of business.
Some common PRA requests are for emails sent and received by our government officials or for other communications (such as memoranda) sent while at work and even official communications sent with personal devices and accounts. Often, many documents such as contracts will already be online, and a PRA request will serve to direct you to it. Documents do not need to be printed out and kept in a modern-day Trapper Keeper in order to exist. If our government has created it, in the form of an email, a video recording, or even data entries in a database, it is probably subject to disclosure.
How to Submit a PRA Request
Submitting a PRA request is simple. You do not need a law degree to request access to public records! Make it clear that you are requesting a public record. In the subject line of your email, it is helpful to put “Public Records Request,” this way the agency can treat it expeditiously. You may wish to cite the PRA law with a simple statement like “Under the California Public Records Act, Govt. Code § 7920.000 et seq., I request a copy of…” is sufficient to let them know that your request and their response is governed by the Act. If you are requesting a record from a county, you can email the county office directly or even the county executive. It can be a bit trickier to find the correct point of contact with state agencies.
Be as clear as possible about what record you are looking for. Give the agency as much information as you are able in order to satisfy your request. If possible, provide a date or date range for the records that you are seeking so the agency does not have to spend a lot of time searching for records in which you are ultimately not interested. Provide your email address so the records officer can reach you in writing if he or she needs clarification from you. You may want to specifically request digital copies of the records because the agency can charge a fee per physical copy. The government agency has ten days to respond to your request.
Example of a PRA Request
The Public Records Act enables transparent government, but it is the citizen who needs to ask for the information he or she wants. In other words, the answer is there, you just have to ask the question.