Forging a Career in Open Records Law: On Record PR
Florida Public Records Laws: Avoiding Pitfalls and Mistakes that Lead to Expensive and Costly Litigation
AGG Talks: Background Screening - Redaction of Identifiers by the Courts Update, Breaking News from California
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 296: Listen and Learn -- Hearsay Exceptions: Government and Business Records
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 132: Listen and Learn -- Hearsay Exceptions: Government and Business Records
[WEBINAR] Exploring the CPRA’s Investigatory Privilege
[WEBINAR] Update: Social Media Meets the First Amendment
[WEBINAR] Social Media Meets the First Amendment
[WEBINAR] Public Records Act - Taming the Email Tiger
[WEBINAR] The Public Records Act - Taming the Email Tiger
Can Virginia Block Non-Residents from FOIA Requests? Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments
In the Advanced Records Center (ARC) section of the New Laws series from Best Best & Krieger LLP (BBK), new legislation related to the California Public Records Act (PRA) includes takeaways and analyses of AB 134, AB 1147, AB...more
House Bill 315, the township omnibus package, was signed into law by Governor Mike DeWine on January 2, 2025 and goes into effect on April 2, 2025. This bill permits law enforcement agencies to charge for the cost of...more
In Thorpe v. Kleinman, Docket No. A-3391-22 (App. Div. Nov. 1, 2024), the plaintiff sought video footage from the Freehold Township Police Department, the defendant in the case, in regard to a traffic obstruction charge....more
MAKING THE WHOLE TRUTH PUBLIC: THE FIGHT TO RELEASE BODY-WORN CAMERA FOOTAGE IN SECTION 1983 LITIGATION - Body-worn cameras were heralded as a promising innovation in the fight against crime and police misconduct. But in...more
Police Drone Footage Only Exempt From Disclosure - In Some Circumstances The California Supreme Court recently denied the City of Chula Vista’s Petition for Review in Castañares v. Superior Court (Dec. 2023) 98 Cal.App.5th...more
Marsy’s Law was approved by Florida voters in the 2018 general election and amended Article I, Section 16 of the Florida Constitution to provide substantive rights to crime victims. The Amendment provides crime victims the...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
The Illinois Appellate Court recently issued a new decision regarding the FOIA. In Kraft v. Chicago Police Department, the Court ruled in favor of the police department, finding it properly exempted records as unduly...more
Key Takeaways - New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) was initially amended on December 29, 2021. On March 21, 2022, Governor Hochul signed a new law, amending FOIL again. Certain parts of the language approved...more
In June 2020, New York repealed Civil Rights Law § 50-a and amended portions of the State’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), resulting in significant changes to the types of law enforcement records subject to public...more
Recently, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a decision regarding the FOIA, upholding a public body’s redaction of traffic accident reports pursuant to Sections 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(c) of the FOIA....more
BB&K's New Law Guidance for a Happy New Year - In Part Two of our “In With the New” series, BB&K’s ARC: Advanced Records Center team covers important new legislation and case law related to the California Public Records...more
Originally enacted on July 4, 1966, the Freedom of Information Act established a statutory right of public access to Executive Branch information held by the federal government. The FOIA provides that any person has a right,...more
BB&K to Host Webinar Discussing SB 16 and Agency Duties to Produce Police Records Under Public Records Act - New police records rules mandating additional disclosures of personnel records will go into effect next year with...more
New CPRA Case Law and Legislation for 2021 - 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...more
Substitute Senate Bill 284, which has been delivered to Governor DeWine for signature, contains an amendment to the Public Records Act that will be of interest to police agencies in Ohio. As currently written, the Act...more
On May 21, 2015, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in State ex rel. Schiffbauer v. Banaszak that police departments at private universities are “public offices” subject to Ohio’s public records law. This law requires such police...more
In a decision applauded by citizens of the City of Chicago and its leadership, the Illinois Supreme Court found that a provision in the collective bargaining agreement between the Fraternal Order of Police, Chicago Lodge No....more
Earlier this week, in response to a nationwide outcry for police reform, the New York Legislature repealed Civil Rights Law § 50-a, a decades-old statute that largely prohibited the disclosure of police disciplinary records....more
The California Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that analyzes the public disclosure of police body camera footage and demonstrates the overlap between e-Discovery processes and other records production schemes. The...more
It's the Information, Not the Record, that Must be Considered, Say BB&K's Christine Wood and Isaac Rosen in PublicCEO - One afternoon in May 2015, six Glendora Police Department officers entered a residence in La Puente,...more
California Public Records Act Provision Permitting Public Agencies to Charge for “Extraction” Analyzed - Government agencies are prohibited from charging a fee to redact police body camera footage in response to a...more
On February 19, 2020, the New Jersey Appellate Division issued a decision Digital First Media v. Ewing Township permitting a newspaper access under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) to Use of Force Reports (UFR)...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