Forging a Career in Open Records Law: On Record PR
On-Demand Webinar | Living on the Edge: Managing Sea Level Rise in California
[WEBINAR] Creating an Accessible City
[WEBINAR] Do You Know the Way [After] San Jose?
[WEBINAR] Labor & Employment Law: What Changed in 2017
[WEBINAR] Developing FEMA Compliant Procurement Procedures
[WEBINAR] Public Records Act - Taming the Email Tiger
[WEBINAR] Automated Vehicle Pilot Project Risks and Smart Infrastructure
[WEBINAR] Building a Solar Energy Project in 2018
[VIDEO] Legal Update: Is the California Rule in Flux?
[VIDEO] Pension Liability by the Numbers
[WEBINAR] The Public Records Act - Taming the Email Tiger
On Monday, June 5, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Senate Bill 2930/Assembly Bill 4045 into law, modifying the process of requesting and obtaining public records, and significantly altering the rights of those who...more
On April 11, 2024, the Washington Supreme Court issued a decision mandating how public records officers, agency attorneys and other government employees must close their responses to public records requests under the state...more
In Forrest v. Erie City, AP 2023-1701 (Sept. 28, 2023), Erie City responded to a request for a list of all rental properties registered and licensed in the City in an Excel spreadsheet by providing a PDF conversion of the...more
In this episode of On Record PR, Gina Rubel goes on record with Terry Mutchler, Chair of Transparency Law and Public Data Practice at Obermayer, to discuss her trailblazing career helping clients navigate open records law....more
The plaintiff, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU), served the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey (CPANJ) with a request to produce documents pursuant to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA). The...more
Often times, when facing voluminous requests for records under Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), clients will simply ask me: “How long do we have to comply?” There is no simple answer, but here are some...more
On April 28, 2022, Governor Lamont signed Public Act 22-3, which makes permanent changes to Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) so as to preserve the ability of public agencies (such as school boards) to conduct...more
The “budget implementer” bill that was passed in June amends Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), preserving, at least temporarily, elements of pandemic-era Executive Orders concerning “remote” and “hybrid”...more
In a win for open and transparent government in Missouri, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Sunshine Law prohibits public governmental bodies from charging persons who request public records under the...more
On March 4, 2021, the US Supreme Court held that draft biological opinions prepared by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) were subject to the deliberative process privilege...more
BB&K's Gregg Kettles Writes About the California Consumer Privacy Act in PublicCEO - The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, went into effect this year and the California Attorney General began enforcing it on July...more
California Public Agencies Struggle with CPRA Compliance - Public agencies are likely grappling with California Public Records Act request challenges — especially deadlines and document access limitations — during the...more
Police Records Must Be Disclosed Even if Created or Officer Employed By Different Agency, California Appellate Court Says - The California Attorney General and Department of Justice must disclose all police misconduct...more
“FOIA is a record access law, not a record retention law.” We have all said it, the statute supports it, and no court has held otherwise. A recent opinion from the Illinois Attorney General Public Access Counselor calls that...more
Part 2: New CPRA Laws for 2020 - While an expansive array of records can be sought via a California Public Records Act request, the right to inspect public records is not without limits. The CPRA does not give unlimited...more
ARC’s Christine Wood Discusses Calif. Public Records Act Updates in Riverside Lawyer Magazine - A public agency’s release of public records is a hot button issue for policy wonks, community advocates and conspiracy...more
A trial court has issued a conflicting decision on a controversial new California law that makes some police records publicly available. Public agencies, though, should continue to follow the ruling made previously by an...more
The Florida Public Records Act requires state and local government entities and agencies to make their records available to the public. But the Act also has many implications for private entities that transact business with...more
Pursuant to Section 705 of the RTKL, when responding to a request, “an agency shall not be required to create a record which does not currently exist or to compile, maintain, format or organize a record in a manner in which...more
As previously discussed, records in possession of a local agency are presumed public unless they are exempt under or protected by: 1) the RTKL exceptions set forth in Section 708; 2) other laws; 3) privilege; or 4) judicial...more
A recent California appellate court decision underscores the sanctity of the attorney-client privilege — holding that even an in camera review of claimed privileged communications is not permitted. This applies even though a...more
Senate Bill 1421, which dramatically changed the scope of a public peace officer record, has generated a number of legal challenges since it went into effect on Jan. 1....more
As I discussed last week, when an Open Records Officer receives a RTKL Request, his or her first duty is to determine if the agency (including its employees and officers) possess any responsive records. The difficult task...more
The objective of the Right to Know Law (“RTKL”) is to empower citizens by affording them access to information concerning the activities of their government. Further, this important open-government law is designed to promote...more
The State Bar of California does not have to create records to fulfill a request for bar applicant data under the Public Records Act, an appellate court decided. ...more