California Public Records Act: agency response time.

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

California Public Records Act: Faster Responses, New Fees

AB-1821 changes how California agencies respond to public records requests by setting new time limits and fees for handling these requests.

What This Bill Does

• Sets a limit of 10 business days for state or local agencies to respond to requests for public records, with an option to extend this period by up to 14 additional business days under unusual circumstances.
• Requires requestors who exceed certain time limits (2 hours per single request or 10 hours total in one month) to pay fees determined by the agency to cover administrative costs.
• Defines 'search' as reviewing records manually or using automated methods to find those that match a request.
• Exempts journalists, newspapers, and educational or noncommercial scientific institutions from paying these additional fees under certain conditions.

Who It Names or Affects

• State and local agencies in California
• People making requests for public records

Terms To Know

Search

Reviewing agency records, either manually or using automated methods, to find those that match a request.

Business days

Days from Monday through Friday excluding holidays and weekends.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify the exact amount of fees agencies can charge for administrative time.
• It is unclear how this legislation will be enforced or what penalties might apply if an agency fails to comply with these new requirements.

Official Summary Text

AB 1821, as amended, Pacheco.
California Public Records Act:
fees and
agency response time.
Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires each state or local agency, upon a request for a copy of records that reasonably describes an identifiable record or records, to make the records promptly available to any person upon payment of fees covering direct costs of duplication, or a statutory fee if applicable, except with respect to public records exempt from disclosure by express provisions of law.
This bill would require, if a single request exceeds 2 hours of search time, or if the total requests by a requestor exceed 10 hours of search time in one month, the requestor to also submit to the agency a payment of fees in an amount determined by the agency as reasonable to compensate the agency for the administrative time
of completing the requests. The bill would exempt from that requirement a journalist, a newspaper, and an educational or noncommercial scientific institution, as specified. The bill would define “search” for purposes of that requirement to mean to review, either manually or by automated means, agency records for the purpose of locating those records that are responsive to a request.
Existing law requires each agency, within 10 days of a request for a copy of records, to determine whether the request seeks copies of disclosable public records in possession of the agency and to promptly notify the person of the determination and the reasons therefor. Existing law authorizes that time limit to be extended by no more than 14 days under unusual circumstances, as defined.
This bill would instead require each agency to determine whether the request seeks copies of disclosable public records in possession of the
agency and to promptly notify the person as described above within 10 business days of a request for a copy of records. The bill would instead authorize the time period for each agency to respond to be extended by no more than 14 business days.
The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the
writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF