BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2853
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2853 (Gatto) - As Amended April 13, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill:
1)Allows a public agency to comply with certain disclosure
requirements under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) by
posting any public record on its website and, in response to a
request for a public record available on the website,
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referring the requester to the website.
2)Stipulates that, after the agency refers the requester to the
website per (1), if the person asks for a copy of any such
public record, due to an inability to access or reproduce the
public records from the website, the agency shall, within 10
days prepare a copy of the public record, at the requester's
expense, and promptly notify the requester of the availability
of the public record.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Potential savings to state and local agencies to the extent they
are able to fulfill PRA requests by referring requestors to an
agency website for the appropriate document(s).
COMMENTS:
Purpose. This bill responds to what the author sees as an abuse
of the CPRA by private companies. These companies make public
record requests that require public agencies - especially
educational agencies and local school districts - to retrieve,
assemble, and provide information that the private companies
then sell to data brokers for targeted marketing purposes or to
market their own products. The author maintains that these
private, for-profit businesses are exploiting the CPRA,
effectively using school district personnel and resources to
find, retrieve, and assemble information to profit the company.
Under CPRA, public agencies must reply to a public record
request within ten days, which entails not only physically
retrieving the records but also reviewing them to determine
which, if any, exemptions apply, or if any other statutes
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prohibit their disclosure. In addition, the agency must make
reasonable efforts to help the person making the request
identify responsive documents and assist the person in refining
the request so as to avoid a denial. If the agency withholds any
requested documents, or parts thereof, the agency must justify
the withholding by demonstrating that the records in question
are subject to an express exemption or that the public interest
in confidentiality clearly outweighs the public interest in
disclosure. If the request was made in writing, the response
justifying the denial must also be writing.
According to the author, it would be much more efficient and
cost-effective to post disclosable records online where a member
of the public could access and download the documents without
making a formal request and without requiring the agency to run
through the required responses to a request.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081