Protect government transparency

LEGISLATION THAT would dramatically undermine Californians’ right to know — and therefore undermine local democracy — could be on the threshold of becoming law if enough legislators and members of the public don’t stand up to stop it.

- DAVID SNYDER GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Assembly Bill 1821 by Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco (D-Downey) is perhaps unique in its aggressive, omnibus approach to making it harder for the public to know what the government is doing. Amendments dropped on the public just days ago have transformed the California Public Records Act bill from merely objectionable in April to a five-alarm fire of a threat to basic government transparency.

AB 1821 hits Californians’ constitutionally protected right to know on multiple fronts. It would make access to public records more expensive. It would also allow government to delay longer before responding — or to not respond at all if requesters don’t submit requests in exactly the “designated” manner. It would allow the government to inquire into the identity of requesters and the purpose of their request — inquiries that for decades have been strictly verboten under California law.

Perhaps most troublingly, AB 1821 would allow any state or local agency to sue members of the public for the simple act of filing a public records request. This provision alone, which would essentially overturn decades of case law making clear that government cannot preemptively sue requesters, will have a crippling chilling effect: If you knew that by simply filing a public records request, you could be hauled into court and forced to hire a lawyer, wouldn’t you think twice? The prospect of being sued for merely asking for public records would make government dramatically less transparent.