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LEGISLATION COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	04/10/2017
Subject: AB 1479 (Bonta): Public Records: Supervisor of Records: Fines
Submitted For:	LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Department:	County Administrator
Referral No.:	2017-17
Referral Name:	AB 1479 (Bonta): Public Records: Supervisor of Records: Fines
Presenter:	Jami Napier	Contact:	L. DeLaney, 925-335-1097

Information

Referral History:

AB 1479 (Bonta): Public Records: Supervisor of Records: Fines was referred to the Legislation Committee by Jami Napier, Chief Assistant Clerk of the Board. The CACEO Clerk of the Board Legislation Committee voted to oppose AB 1479.

Referral Update:

AB 1479 (Bonta): Public Records: Supervisor of Records: Fines, amends the Public Records Act. Requires public agencies to identify a supervisor of records who shall review a determination by the agency that a request for records is denied. Authorizes a court that finds that an agency improperly withheld public records without justification, failed to furnish a properly requested record or a portion thereof in a timely manner, assessed an unreasonable fee upon a requester, or otherwise did not act in good faith in compliance, to assess punitive damages.

The text of the bill can be found at: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB1479

Introduced:	02/17/2017
Last Amend:	03/21/2017
Disposition:	Pending
Committee:	Assembly Judiciary Committee
Hearing:	04/25/2017 9:00 am, State Capitol, Room 437

California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and the Urban Counties of California (UCC) do not have official positions on the bill as yet.

No committee analysis of the bill has been prepared as yet. However, the Chairman of the CACEO Clerk of the Board Legislative Committee provided the following comments:

"This bill would amend Government Code Section 6255 to require public agencies to identify a “supervisor of records” who would be required to review a determination by the agency that a request for records is denied.

The bill would also amend Section 6259 to establish a penalty of from $1,000 to $5,000 if a court determines that any agency:

o Improperly withheld a record from a member of the public without justification.
o Failed to furnish a properly requested record or portion of a record in a timely manner.
o Otherwise did not act in good faith to comply with the CPRA.

The CACEO’s Clerk of the Board Legislative Committee voted to oppose AB 1479. The committee recommends that member clerks request their county to also oppose this bill. Several committee members believe it likely that the Clerk of the Board would be designated as the “supervisor of records”. Even if the COB were not so designated and, say, the County Counsel were named as supervisor of records, it would be very difficult for that official, or any other single official, to effectively function in the capacity of records supervisor.

As important, or perhaps more important, is the establishment of punitive damages that are not triggered by some egregious act on the part of the supervisor of record, agency, or other official. Under the terms of the bill, a county could be liable for damages after having made a good faith determination to deny a record or portion of a record. The provision that would allow such damages if an agency failed to respond timely would be particularly onerous in view of the many large records requests a county receives and the imposition of a new layer in the records request process by the bill.

AB 1479 is currently awaiting hearing in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. We anticipate that the bill will be heard in that committee very shortly after the Legislature re-convenes from its Spring Recess on April 17."

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

CONSIDER recommending to the Board of Supervisors a position of "Oppose" on AB 1479 (Bonta): Public Records: Supervisor of Records: Fines, as recommended by Jami Napier, the Chief Assistant Clerk of the Board.

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