Politics

Budget Bill Threatens Public Records Access In California

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published June 17, 2013 at 1:29 PM PDT

This story was published more than 10 years ago.

Budget Bill Threatens Public Records Access In California

An amendment added to a state budget trailer puts access to public records at risk.

UPDATE, June 19: KQED in Northern California is reporting that the trailer bill is set to be amended and language that would change the California Public Records Act will no longer be included.

Last-minute language introduced into a trailer bill to California’s state budget would seriously threaten government transparency.

Peter Scheer, executive director of California’s First Amendment Coalition, said the amendment is meant to cut costs, but it would actually eliminate the public’s ability to get information with public records requests.

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“If that agency wishes to deny the request, under current law, they have to give you some reasons,“ Scheer said. “But under the new law, they don’t have to give you any reasons at all. They simply say ‘denied.’”

Scheer said the proposed amendment would allow government agencies to skirt the spirit of the Public Records Act.

“We should call it the 'useless data provision,'” he said. “Agencies will have the discretion to give you data, only in some format that cannot be used in a database so you won’t be able to analyze the data, even though the agency might have it in the format you want. “

Governor Jerry Brown has until the end of the month to either approve or veto the bill as part of the state's operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.