California Public Records Act
Government Code Sections 6250-6270


6250: Purpose
6251: Name
6252: Definitions
6253: Procedure for Public Record Requests
6253.1: Agency must be helpful
6253.2: In-Home helpers exempt
6253.4: Agency Guidelines
6253.5: Initiatives etc. are exempt
6253.6: Bilingual ballots exempt
6253.8: Environmental enforcement orders on websites
6253.9: Electronic records 6254: Exemptions (Long List)
6254.1: Residence addresses exempt
6254.2: Pesticides not exempt
6254.20: electronic personal information exempt
6254.21: Addresses of Officials exempt
6254.22: County health plan contracts exempt
6254.25: Legal memos re pending legislation exempt
6254.3: Home addresses of state employees exempt
6254.4: Home addresses of voters exempt
6254.5: Disclosure waives exemptions, except.
6254.6: Industry Wage data exempt
6254.7: Pollution data are public records
6254.8: Employment contracts of officials are open
6254.9: Computer software exempt
6252.10: Archeological sites exempt
6254.11: Air Pollutants exempt
6254.12: Security Broker records not exempt
6254.13: School exam questions open to state officials
6254.14: Prison Medical contracts are private
6254.15: State incentives to corporations
6254.16: Credit Information
6254.17: State Board of Control

6255: Agency must justify witholding record
6257.5: Purpose of request irrelevant
6258: Private Enforcement
6259: Court Orders

6260: Doesn't affect Discovery laws
6261: Agency financial records open
6262: DA has access to licensing records
6263: DA has access to all non-exempt agency records
6264: DA can get court order if agency refuses
6265: Disclosure to DA doesn't waive confidentiality
6267: Library circulation records
6268: Records in control of ex-governor
6270: No private intermediaries allowed

TEXT

6250. In enacting this chapter, the Legislature, mindful of the right of individuals to privacy, finds and declares that access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.

6251. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the California Public Records Act.

6252. As used in this chapter:

6252.5. Notwithstanding the definition of "member of the public" in Section 6252, an elected member or officer of any state or local agency is entitled to access to public records of that agency on the same basis as any other person. Nothing in this section shall limit the ability of elected members or officers to access public records permitted by law in the administration of their duties.
This section does not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, existing law.

6253.

6253.1.

6253.2.

6253.4. (a) Every agency may adopt regulations stating the procedures to be followed when making its records available in accordance with this section.

The following state and local bodies shall establish written guidelines for accessibility of records. A copy of these guidelines shall be posted in a conspicuous public place at the offices of these bodies, and a copy of the guidelines shall be available upon request free of charge to any person requesting that body's records:

  • (b) Guidelines and regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall be consistent with all other sections of this chapter and shall reflect the intention of the Legislature to make the records accessible to the public. The guidelines and regulations adopted pursuant to this section shall not operate to limit the hours public records are open for inspection as prescribed in Section 6253.

    6253.5. Notwithstanding Sections 6252 and 6253, statewide, county, city, and district initiative, referendum, and recall petitions, petitions circulated pursuant to Section 5091 of the Education Code, petitions for the reorganization of school districts submitted pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 35700) of Chapter 4 of Part 21 of the Education Code, petitions for the reorganization of community college districts submitted pursuant to Part 46 (commencing with Section 74000) of the Education Code and all memoranda prepared by the county elections officials in the examination of the petitions indicating which registered voters have signed particular petitions shall not be deemed to be public records and shall not be open to inspection except by the public officer or public employees who have the duty of receiving, examining or preserving the petitions or who are responsible for the preparation of that memoranda and, if the petition is found to be insufficient, by the proponents of the petition and the representatives of the proponents as may be designated by the proponents in writing in order to determine which signatures were disqualified and the reasons therefor. However, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Fair Political Practices Commission, a district attorney, a school district or a community college district attorney, and a city attorney shall be permitted to examine the material upon approval of the appropriate superior court.

    If the proponents of a petition are permitted to examine the petition and memoranda, the examination shall commence not later than 21 days after certification of insufficiency.

    6253.6.

    6253.8.

    6253.9.

    6254. Except as provided in Sections 6254.7 and 6254.13, nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require disclosure of records that are any of the following:

    6254.1.

    6254.2.

    6254.20. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require the disclosure of records that relate to electronically collected personal information, as defined by Section 11015.5, received, collected, or compiled by a state agency.

    6254.21.

    6254.22. Nothing in this chapter or any other provision of law shall require the disclosure of records of a health plan that is licensed pursuant to the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Chapter 2.2 (commencing with Section 1340) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code) and that is governed by a county board of supervisors, whether paper records, records maintained in the management information system, or records in any other form, that relate to provider rate or payment determinations, allocation or distribution methodologies for provider payments, formulae or calculations for these payments, and contract negotiations with providers of health care for alternative rates for a period of three years after the contract is fully executed.
    The transmission of the records, or the information contained therein in an alternative form, to the board of supervisors shall not constitute a waiver of exemption from disclosure, and the records and information once transmitted to the board of supervisors shall be subject to this same exemption.
    The provisions of this section shall not prevent access to any records by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee in the exercise of its powers pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 10500) of Chapter 4 of Part 2 of Division 2 of Title 2.
    The provisions of this section also shall not prevent access to any records by the Department of Corporations in the exercise of its powers pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 1340) of Chapter 2.2 of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code.

    6254.25. Nothing in this chapter or any other provision of law shall require the disclosure of a memorandum submitted to a state body or to the legislative body of a local agency by its legal counsel pursuant to subdivision (q) of Section 11126 or Section 54956.9 until the pending litigation has been finally adjudicated or otherwise settled. The memorandum shall be protected by the attorney work-product privilege until the pending litigation has been finally adjudicated or otherwise settled.

    6254.3.

    6254.4.

    6254.5. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, whenever a state or local agency discloses a public record which is otherwise exempt from this chapter, to any member of the public, this disclosure shall constitute a waiver of the exemptions specified in Sections 6254, 6254.7, or other similar provisions of law. For purposes of this section, "agency" includes a member, agent, officer, or employee of the agency acting within the scope of his or her membership, agency, office, or employment.

    This section, however, shall not apply to disclosures:

    6254.6. Whenever a city and county or a joint powers agency, pursuant to a mandatory statute or charter provision to collect private industry wage data for salary setting purposes, or a contract entered to implement that mandate, is provided this data by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics on the basis that the identity of private industry employers shall remain confidential, the identity of the employers shall not be open to the public or be admitted as evidence in any action or special proceeding.

    6254.7.

    6254.8. Every employment contract between a state or local agency and any public official or public employee is a public record which is not subject to the provisions of Sections 6254 and 6255.

    6254.9.

    6254.10. Nothing in this chapter requires disclosure of records that relate to archeological site information maintained by the Department of Parks and Recreation, the State Historical Resources Commission, or the State Lands Commission.

    6254.11. Nothing in this chapter requires the disclosure of records that relate to volatile organic compounds or chemical substances information received or compiled by an air pollution control officer pursuant to Section 42303.2 of the Health and Safety Code.

    6254.12. Any information reported to the North American Securities Administrators Association/National Association of Securities Dealers' Central Registration Depository and compiled as disciplinary records which are made available to the Department of Corporations through a computer system, shall constitute a public record. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Department of Corporations may disclose that information and the current license status and the year of issuance of the license of a broker-dealer upon written or oral request pursuant to Section 25247 of the Corporations Code.

    6254.13. Notwithstanding Section 6254, upon the request of any Member of the Legislature or upon request of the Governor or his or her designee, test questions or materials that would be used to administer an examination and are provided by the State Department of Education and administered as part of a statewide testing program of pupils enrolled in the public schools shall be disclosed to the requester. These questions or materials may not include an individual examination that has been administered to a pupil and scored. The requester may not take physical possession of the questions or materials, but may view the questions or materials at a location selected by the department. Upon viewing this information, the requester shall keep the materials that he or she has seen confidential.

    6254.14.

    6254.15. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require the disclosure of records that are any of the following: corporate financial records, corporate proprietary information including trade secrets, and information relating to siting within the state furnished to a government agency by a private company for the purpose of permitting the agency to work with the company in retaining, locating, or expanding a facility within California. Except as provided below, incentives offered by state or local government agencies, if any, shall be disclosed upon communication to the agency or the public of a decision to stay, locate, relocate, or expand, by a company, or upon application by that company to a governmental agency for a general plan amendment, rezone, use permit, building permit, or any other permit, whichever occurs first.

    The agency shall delete, prior to disclosure to the public, information that is exempt pursuant to this section from any record describing state or local incentives offered by an agency to a private business to retain, locate, relocate, or expand the business within California.

    6254.16. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require the disclosure of the name, credit history, utility usage data, home address, or telephone number of utility customers of local agencies, except that disclosure of name, utility usage data, and the home address of utility customers of local agencies shall be made available upon request as follows:

    6254.17.

    6255.

    6257.5. This chapter does not allow limitations on access to a public record based upon the purpose for which the record is being requested, if the record is otherwise subject to disclosure.

    6258. Any person may institute proceedings for injunctive or declarative relief or writ of mandate in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce his or her right to inspect or to receive a copy of any public record or class of public records under this chapter. The times for responsive pleadings and for hearings in these proceedings shall be set by the judge of the court with the object of securing a decision as to these matters at the earliest possible time.

    6259.

    6260. The provisions of this chapter shall not be deemed in any manner to affect the status of judicial records as it existed immediately prior to the effective date of this section, nor to affect the rights of litigants, including parties to administrative proceedings, under the laws of discovery of this state, nor to limit or impair any rights of discovery in a criminal case.

    6261. Notwithstanding Section 6252, an itemized statement of the total expenditures and disbursement of any agency provided for in Article VI of the California Constitution shall be open for inspection.

    6262. The exemption of records of complaints to, or investigations conducted by, any state or local agency for licensing purposes under subdivision (f) of Section 6254 shall not apply when a request for inspection of such records is made by a district attorney.

    6263. A state or local agency shall allow an inspection or copying of any public record or class of public records not exempted by this chapter when requested by a district attorney.

    6264. The district attorney may petition a court of competent jurisdiction to require a state or local agency to allow him to inspect or receive a copy of any public record or class of public records not exempted by this chapter when the agency fails or refuses to allow inspection or copying within 10 working days of a request. The court may require a public agency to permit inspection or copying by the district attorney unless the public interest or good cause in withholding such records clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

    6265. Disclosure of records to a district attorney under the provisions of this chapter shall effect no change in the status of the records under any other provision of law.

    6267. All registration and circulation records of any library which is in whole or in part supported by public funds shall remain confidential and shall not be disclosed to any person, local agency, or state agency except as follows:

    As used in this section, the term "registration records" includes any information which a library requires a patron to provide in order to become eligible to borrow books and other materials, and the term "circulation records" includes any information which identifies the patrons borrowing particular books and other material.

    This section shall not apply to statistical reports of registration and circulation nor to records of fines collected by the library.

    6268. Public records, as defined in Section 6252, in the custody or control of the Governor when he or she leaves office, either voluntarily or involuntarily, shall, as soon as is practical, be transferred to the State Archives.
    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Governor, by written instrument, the terms of which shall be made public, may restrict public access to any of the transferred public records, or any other writings he or she may transfer, which have not already been made accessible to the public.
    With respect to public records, public access, as otherwise provided for by this chapter, shall not be restricted for a period greater than 50 years or the death of the Governor, whichever is later, nor shall there be any restriction whatsoever with respect to enrolled bill files, press releases, speech files, or writings relating to applications for clemency or extradition in cases which have been closed for a period of at least 25 years.
    Subject to any restrictions permitted by this section, the Secretary of State, as custodian of the State Archives, shall make all such public records and other writings available to the public as otherwise provided for in this chapter.

    Except as to enrolled bill files, press releases, speech files, or writings relating to applications for clemency or extradition, this section shall not apply to public records or other writings in the direct custody or control of any Governor who held office between 1974 and 1988 at the time of leaving office, except to the extent that that Governor may voluntarily transfer those records or other writings to the State Archives.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the public records and other writings of any Governor who held office between 1974 and 1988 may be transferred to any educational or research institution in California provided that with respect to public records, public access, as otherwise provided for by this chapter, shall not be restricted for a period greater than 50 years or the death of the Governor, whichever is later. No records or writings may be transferred pursuant to this paragraph unless the institution receiving them agrees to maintain, and does maintain, the materials according to commonly accepted archival standards. No public records transferred shall be destroyed by that institution without first receiving the written approval of the Secretary of State, as custodian of the State Archives, who may require that the records be placed in the State Archives rather than being destroyed. An institution receiving those records or writings shall allow the Secretary of State, as custodian of the State Archives, to copy, at state expense, and to make available to the public, any and all public records, and inventories, indices, or finding aids relating to those records, which the institution makes available to the public generally. Copies of those records in the custody of the State Archives shall be given the same legal effect as is given to the originals.

    6270.