Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

US Homebuilder Sentiment Dips Back to Lowest Level Since Late 2022

3 hours ago

Wall Street Muted as Investors Focus on Retail Earnings, Jackson Hole Summit

4 hours ago

Trump Vows to Target Mail-in Ballots Ahead of 2026 Midterm Election

4 hours ago

Thousands of Palestinians Leave Gaza City Fearing Israeli Offensive

4 hours ago

What to Know About Russia-US-Ukraine Peace Talks

21 hours ago

Actor Terence Stamp, Star of Superman Films, Dies Aged 87

21 hours ago

Kevin McCarthy, Redistricting Commission’s Popularity Stand in Newsom’s Way

3 days ago

California Man Safe After High-Tech Rescue From Behind Sequoia Waterfall

3 days ago
Walters: Politicians Like to Keep Us in the Dark
Portrait of CalMatters Columnist Dan Walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 6 years ago on
March 10, 2019

Share

Every year, governors and state legislators load up bills that supposedly implement the state budget with all sorts of extracurricular provisions benefiting those to whom they owe favors.

Opinion

Dan Walters
CALmatters Commentary

Two new examples of the hostility to airing the public’s business have arisen, both dealing with another state law, the Public Records Act (PRA), which, with a few specified exceptions, requires official documents to be public.

They use these “trailer bills” because they can be, and often have been, passed very quickly after being drafted, thereby concealing their goodies from public scrutiny until they are safely enacted.

After many years of such shenanigans, some reformers finally placed a measure on the ballot to require 72-hour notice before bills can have their final votes. The Capitol’s politicians didn’t like it, and have managed to partially bypass it, but it’s still on the books.

It’s an example of how California politicians pay lip service to open government, but fundamentally prefer secrecy.

Two new examples of the hostility to airing the public’s business have arisen, both dealing with another state law, the Public Records Act (PRA), which, with a few specified exceptions, requires official documents to be public.

One is Senate Bill 615 by Sen. Ben Hueso, a Chula Vista Democrat, which would make it much more difficult to compel state and local agencies to comply with PRA requests.

It’s not uncommon for agencies to stonewall or drag their feet on requests for documents under the law, especially when they might be embarrassing to officialdom.

Records of Police Misconduct to Be Made Public

The PRA doesn’t have an automatic enforcement mechanism, so one of the few ways journalists and others can force the issue is through the courts.

Sunshine Week

Hueso’s bill, however, would compel those requesting documents to go through a series of preliminary hoops, force them to prove in court that agencies stalled compliance “knowingly, willfully and without substantial justification,” and make it more difficult to collect legal costs from agencies that lose lawsuits.

Hueso’s office says the bill, introduced at the request of the San Diego city attorney’s office, is aimed at streamlining the PRA process, but those who employ the law say it’s an obvious attempt to undermine the law.

James Ewert, a lawyer for the California News Publishers Association, told Voice of San Diego, the local news site that blew the whistle on Hueso’s measure, “If Sen. Hueso is trying to make it more difficult for members of the public to get info about their government, this will be a smashing success.”

The second assault on the PRA is being waged by another Democrat, Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

Although a new law requires records of police misconduct to be made public, Becerra has stiffed requests for information about the investigators in his office and is threatening legal, or even criminal, action against one journalistic organization that managed to obtain some records.

Becerra Is Saying We Shouldn’t Know That Officers Have Committed Crimes

UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program used the PRA to obtain nearly 12,000 names of law enforcement officers or applicants who had committed crimes ranging from shoplifting to murder.

“If you do not intend to comply with our request, the department can take legal action.”Department of Justice

Those convictions themselves are matters of public record, and the compilation came from the Commission on Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) via a PRA request.

Becerra then demanded that the records be returned or destroyed, saying they shouldn’t have been released, and warned that “unauthorized receipt or possession” of the data is a misdemeanor.

“If you do not intend to comply with our request, the department can take legal action,” the Department of Justice told the journalists.

So Becerra is telling us that we shouldn’t know that thousands of police officers have committed crimes and is threatening to prosecute those who defy him.

Sunshine, it’s been said, is the best disinfectant for official misconduct – but obviously Hueso and Becerra would like to keep us in the dark.

CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

America’s Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying

DON'T MISS

Zelenskiy Arrives at White House for High-Stakes Trump Meeting

DON'T MISS

Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, Alleged Mexican Drug Lord, Set to Plead Guilty

DON'T MISS

Hamas Accepts Proposed Deal for Ceasefire With Israel and Hostage Release, Egyptian Source Says

DON'T MISS

Texas Democratic Lawmakers End Walkout, Setting Stage for Vote on Redrawn Map

DON'T MISS

Costa Bill Could Mean Grant Money to More Rural Towns Facing Water Disasters

DON'T MISS

Gavin Newsom Warms to Big Oil in Climate Reversal

DON'T MISS

Madera County Authorities Arrest Two During Oakhurst Law Enforcement Operation

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Koby Dupree Foster

DON'T MISS

Israelis Stage Nationwide Protests to Demand End to Gaza War and Release of Hostages

UP NEXT

California Legislature’s Final Weeks Could Decide Delta Water Tunnel’s Fate

UP NEXT

Outside Lands 2025: Where Music, Love, and Community Collide

UP NEXT

California Was a Model for Transparency. Now the Capitol Operates in the Dark

UP NEXT

It’s Not Too Late for Islas and Levine to ‘Get in Good Trouble’

UP NEXT

Newsom’s Congressional Redistricting Drive in California Faces Tall Hurdles

UP NEXT

The Trump Administration Tried to Silence Mahmoud Khalil, So I Asked Him to Talk

UP NEXT

Sen. Klobuchar Is a Democratic Bellwether, and She’s Changing Her Tune on Israel

UP NEXT

Donald Trump and John Roberts Have a Lot in Common

UP NEXT

Democracy Be Damned: Texas and California Plot Dueling Gerrymanders

UP NEXT

The America We Knew Is Rapidly Slipping Away

Hamas Accepts Proposed Deal for Ceasefire With Israel and Hostage Release, Egyptian Source Says

1 hour ago

Texas Democratic Lawmakers End Walkout, Setting Stage for Vote on Redrawn Map

1 hour ago

Costa Bill Could Mean Grant Money to More Rural Towns Facing Water Disasters

2 hours ago

Gavin Newsom Warms to Big Oil in Climate Reversal

2 hours ago

Madera County Authorities Arrest Two During Oakhurst Law Enforcement Operation

2 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Koby Dupree Foster

2 hours ago

Israelis Stage Nationwide Protests to Demand End to Gaza War and Release of Hostages

2 hours ago

US Offers Up to $50,000 Bonus for New ICE Deportation Officers

3 hours ago

New York City Police Say to Avoid Times Square Due to Investigation

3 hours ago

Slow Down: Fresno Police Remind Motorists of School Zone Rules

3 hours ago

America’s Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying

The smoke from the wildfires that burned through Los Angeles in January smelled like plastic and was so thick that it hid the ocean. Firefig...

13 minutes ago

US Forest Service firefighters in San Luis Obispo California
13 minutes ago

America’s Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying

President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House, amid negotiations to end the Russian war in Ukraine, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 18, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
22 minutes ago

Zelenskiy Arrives at White House for High-Stakes Trump Meeting

Accused Mexican former drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada appears in Brooklyn federal court, New York, U.S, October 18, 2024, in this courtroom sketch. (Reuters File)
27 minutes ago

Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, Alleged Mexican Drug Lord, Set to Plead Guilty

Smoke rises after an explosion in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, Israel August 18, 2025. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)
1 hour ago

Hamas Accepts Proposed Deal for Ceasefire With Israel and Hostage Release, Egyptian Source Says

U.S. and Texas state flags fly at the Texas Capitol building, amid a redistricting battle between Republicans and Democratic state lawmakers in Austin, Texas, U.S., August 18 2025. (Reuters/Nuri Vallbona)
1 hour ago

Texas Democratic Lawmakers End Walkout, Setting Stage for Vote on Redrawn Map

Jim Costa and Chuck Edwards
2 hours ago

Costa Bill Could Mean Grant Money to More Rural Towns Facing Water Disasters

Kern County California Oil Pumps
2 hours ago

Gavin Newsom Warms to Big Oil in Climate Reversal

Craig Isherwood (left), 39, of Visalia, and Jayden Vanzeyl, 23, of Oakhurst, were arrested Saturday during a coordinated law enforcement operation. (Madera County SO)
2 hours ago

Madera County Authorities Arrest Two During Oakhurst Law Enforcement Operation

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend