Consumer Watchdog, a California nonprofit organization that advocates for taxpayer and consumer interests, submitted a ballot initiative to the Attorney General for Title and Summary, for consideration by voters on the November 2024 ballot. The Title and Summary was issued on October 6, 2023, and will need to meet the signature requirements by April 3, 2024, to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.  Petitions proposing initiative statutes must be signed by registered voters. The number of signatures must be equal to at least 5% of the total votes cast for the office of Governor at the last gubernatorial election which, at this time, is 546,651. 

The so-called “Government Transparency Act” would considerably amend the California Public Records Act (CPRA) and would impose significant costs on state and local agencies to comply. Should this measure pass in November, counties will need to increase resources, including staffing, to comply with the expansive requirements.  

In summary, the measure changes the process for responding to, maintaining, and managing public records and requests for public records, as follows:  

  • Establishes extensive standards to ensure that government agencies conduct thorough searches for public records and disclose in writing their efforts to comply with the law.  

  • Requires that public records are maintained for at least five years.  

  • Requires public agencies to respond to public records requests within 30 calendar days unless extraordinary circumstances exist.  

  • Requires public agencies to automatically post a listing of certain public records online, including contracts with vendors and contractors, in a conspicuous manner.  

  • Prohibits assessing fees that exceed the direct cost of duplication of the public record or a fee of $0.10 per page, whichever is less, as well as the actual cost of any digital storage media or device provided by the agency, and postage costs.  

  • Allows the public to bring legal actions to address past violations of the law and to prevent threatened future actions that would undermine access to public records. 

  • Limits a number of existing court decisions on the CPRA, including ensuring that members of the public who sue public agencies to enforce the CPRA have broad discovery access, ensuring that public records include documents maintained by private contractors relating to their work on behalf of public agencies, ensuring that communications exchanged between government employees and entities outside of government are available to the public, and limiting public agencies’ use of the attorney-client privilege and the attorney work product doctrine to limit access to public records. 

  • Limits reverse-CPRA lawsuits. 

  • Requires public agencies to publish annual reports that provide information about CPRA requests and how the public agency has responded. 

  • Requires members of the Legislature to disclose lobbying meetings, fundraising events, and public events; requires that records related to legislators’ misconduct be provided to the public upon request; requires that all legislative records be retained for a minimum of five years. 

Sponsors have been bullish in the press about the likelihood of the measure’s eventual success. As part of the Title and Summary process, the Legislative Analyst’s Office prepared a fiscal analysis of the measure. The analysis estimates increased net costs to state and local government, likely exceeding $1 billion annually, to meet new timeframes and requirements for providing public access to government and legislative records and to retain such records for five years.  

The “Government Transparency Act,” is one of many initiatives vying for a spot on the November ballot with potentially large impacts to county government. Stay tuned for more information in the months ahead on this measure and others that will likely be considered on the November 2024 ballot. For more information, contact RCRC Policy Advocate, Sarah Dukett.