Editorial | Assembly Bill 1821 is latest assault on access to public records

An alarming bill that is advancing in the state Legislature would slam the door on Californians seeking public records from public agencies. Assembly Bill 1821, introduced by Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, D-Downey, sets up a new gauntlet of costly barriers and delays, enabling agencies to play even more games to keep public records secret than some already do.

Readers of the Sentinel know of the importance of a free press being able to access public records. The Sentinel covered and pushed back on bureaucratic roadblocks to open records, such as local government attempts to charge citizens fees for public document retrieval and California police agencies holding back misconduct records. Here's an example concerning an issue that has polarized the community in recent years: The Sentinel used a California Public Records Act request to obtain internal letters and emails from the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC). These records showed that local officials had quietly spent months extensively debating "railbanking" - essentially, the potential removal of train tracks for an interim trail alternative - and that these discussions were occurring long before the plans were made public.

Prior to that following a landmark state police-transparency law, the Sentinel participated in a statewide push by journalists using CPRA requests targeting disciplinary, use-of-force, and misconduct files across local law enforcement agencies.

None of these would have been possible without accessible public records. And all too often, those "public" records are treated like private documents by those who would like to keep uncomfortable facts secret from the public.

CalMatters had to sue the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority in 2024 when it refused to release "incident reports" of deaths in publicly funded homeless shelters. The Los Angeles Times is fighting in court over the deletion of city officials' text messages, including those of Mayor Karen Bass during the January 2025 wildfires.

And how do some in our state Legislature react to this outright censorship? By trying to make it worse - not just for the news media, but for private citizens.

Litigation is expensive and slow, and it shouldn't be necessary. Improper denials of public records requests violate the state constitution's guarantee, enshrined by voter approval of Proposition 59 in 2004, that with only limited exceptions, "The people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business, and, therefore, the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies shall be open to public scrutiny."

Proposition 59 further stated that a law "shall be broadly construed if it furthers the people's right of access, and narrowly construed if it limits the right of access."

AB 1821 left the Assembly as a bill that would needlessly lengthen the time period that agencies have to notify public records requestors if there are any documents responsive to their inquiry. And then it got even worse.

As amended in the state Senate, an agency would have the power to determine whether a requester was "commercial" or "noncommercial," a "representative of the news media, as defined" or not, and even whether the requester had "malicious intent." Requestors not falling into an approved category would be charged an "administrative fee" of $22.35 per hour plus a "professional fee" of $66.26 per hour, both adjusted annually for inflation.

And worse: If an agency decides that a request was submitted "with malicious intent," the agency can petition the Superior Court to impose additional fees, while the request is on hold for the duration of those court proceedings.

The bill would even allow agencies to disregard deadlines for requests that were not "submitted through a method of submission that was designated by the agency." Did you send it through postal mail when the agency's preference was email? Too bad, no records for you.

The coalition fighting this outrageous bill includes the California News Publishers Association, the First Amendment Coalition, ACLU California Action and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

AB 1821 is currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Tom Umberg. He should send AB 1821 to the bottom of the sea. Give him a call at his Capitol office at 916-651-4034, or his district office in Santa Ana, 714-558-3785.

Sen. Ben Allen, who is running for insurance commissioner, is a member of the Judiciary Committee. You can call his Capitol office at 916-651-4024 or his district office at 310-414-8190.

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