Last night Speaker of the Assembly John Perez announced that the state assembly would vote today on Assembly trailer bill 71 that would reverse the dismantling of the public records act, currently being gutted by assembly trailer bill 76. Assembly bill 76 turned the public records act into optional best practices that can be ignored. The reason for this is that some time ago, state mandates on local government required that the state reimburse local entities for the costs of complying with a good government state mandate.
Being his typical obstructionist self, Senator Steinberg indicated that the assembly bill would receive no consideration by the State Senate because he intended to hold it up. Instead, as Governor moonbeam envisions, he wishes to place the costs of public records act requests in front of the voters as an initiative that would shift the cost burden from the state to the government entity.
Good government is simply good business. Think about all of the times the media has been able to access public records to demonstrate that the public is being ripped off and witness people being held accountable. The story of self-dealing in Bell, California would have never saw the light of day had disclosure been an optional best practice. In our minds, there is room for both approaches. If Governor moonbeam and Senator Steinberg want to obstruct the public records act thereby promoting fraud, waste, abuse, public corruption, self-dealing and more, they need to rethink that with respect to their political aspirations as they will own the results. While that might not concern Governor moonbeam, this should concern Senator Steinberg.
As stated, there is room for compromise. Ballot an initiative that would address costs retroactively to June 30th, 2013 so the state could recover monies from locals should the initiative pass. Preserve access to public records as a rule of law and simply not a best practice.
Senator Steinberg and Governor Brown, what you are proposing will cost more than the people can afford. Open government is a right of the people and a responsibility of public servants. Senator Leno, the devil is in the details so your initiative should be expanding access, shifting costs and enhancing good government and quasi-governmental access. Blocking assembly bill 71 from consideration amounts to selling out your constituents.
Related articles
- public records exemption for public records (mariokenny.me)
- Brown, Senate leaders change course on Public Records Act (modbee.com)
- Assembly Democrats Join Senate Democrats In Assault On Public Records Act (ocpolitical.com)
- Our View: Gutting public info access is a bad piece of baloney (appeal-democrat.com)
- Assembly Speaker Perez: California Public Records Act Changes Will Not Go Through (blogs.kqed.org)
- What does California have against transparency in local government? (sunlightfoundation.com)
- Brown Urged to Veto Bill That Could Limit Public Records Access (blogs.kqed.org)
- Records law changes face opposition (utsandiego.com)
- Budget bill would make it optional for California local governments to comply with public records laws (modbee.com)
- Bill Would Allow Cities And Counties To Delay Public Records Requests (sacramento.cbslocal.com)
Judicial Council Watcher 
courtflea
June 20, 2013
hopefully AB76 will die quietly or hopefully the Gov will veto.
Judicial Council Watcher
June 20, 2013
AB71 passes the state assembly and goes on to the senate where Steinberg has vowed to let it die.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/06/california-assembly-sends-senate-bill-reversing-public-records-changes.html
Judicial Council Watcher
June 20, 2013
Jerry Brown reverses and says now that he will support preserving the public records act.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/06/jerry-brown-will-support-bill-keeping-public-records-act-intact.html
Wendy Darling
June 20, 2013
Such interesting things happen in the days and hours leading up to the signing of a new budget.
Long live the ACJ.
courtflea
June 20, 2013
told you 🙂
Judicial Council Watcher
June 21, 2013
And the senate finally relents and reconsiders, yet you don’t hear Steinberg making that announcement. Mr. Walters says it best…It’s been another Laurel & Hardy week in Sacramento.
wearyant
June 21, 2013
JCW, thanks for posting one of Walters’ better statements. “Who’s on first?” Maybe ol’ Dan gives a glance over at this blog occasionally. And next week, as Unionman575 points out, the Big Top is coming back to town. Bring your popcorn, crackerjax and kool-aid and join the fun.
Lando
June 21, 2013
How come Justice Harry Hull gets to ignore the mandates of the public records act? Why is an Appellate Justice passing on legitimate requests made to an administrative agency to wit the AOC to begin with ? Why are only certain requests made to the AOC for public information sent to Justice Hull? Isn’t it ironic that Justice Hull largely deals with requests made by judges labeled as ” dissenters” ? Why is any of this allowed to happen at all in light of the “insiders” track record , including their active attempts to prevent an audit of their 500 million dollar waste of taxpayer money called CCMS ? Shouldn’t the judiciary stand for open and transparent access to public information ? Isn’t that the claim of HRH-2, Justice Miller and the other “insiders”. While the public properly revolted against the above proposed public act changes they should also be objecting to all of the above described actions by the AOC, and Justice Hull. The solution? A recall of both HRH-2 and Justice Hull.
unionman575
June 21, 2013
What’s that smell?
😉