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Feinstein’s Anti-leak Measure Threatens Speech and Press
Feinstein’s Anti-leak Measure Threatens Speech and Press
Some bad ideas are so irresponsible they might as well be intentionally destructive, and some pieces of legislation are prime examples of this sorry fact. Take Senator Dianne Feinstein’s anti-leak provisions in the current intelligence authorization bill, which passed her Senate Intelligence Committee the other day. It exempts the Congress itself and the White House from any penalties for leaking classified information but makes ordinary interactions between journalists and intelligence officials extraordinarily risky. The bill’s troubling threats to First Amendment freedoms—in both its vague terms and draconian consequences—were spelled out today by two veteran experts on government secrecy: a watchdog policy analyst and a foreign affairs journalist.
SB 999
SESSION: 2012 INFORMATION: SB 999 (La Malfa) would eliminate the current two year statute of limitations to bring a damages lawsuit for the unauthorized commercial use of a person’s name, signature, photograph, or likeness when the unauthorized use was on the Internet, permitting such actions at any time after the use, even if it has been discontinued. POSITION: Oppose STATUS
AB 1270
SESSION: 2012 INFORMATION: AB 1270 (Ammiano) would restore the ability of journalists to conduct prearranged interviews and exchange confidential correspondence with particular state prison inmates, and to do so using pens, pencils, paper, cameras and other recording devices when conducting these interviews. POSITION: Support STATUS
SB 1336
SESSION: 2012 INFORMATION: SB 1336 (Yee) would require disclosure of the results of investigations into improper governmental activity by the State Auditor’s office, by California State University investigators and by city auditors’ investigators. Under existing law, ostensibly to protect whistleblowers and witnesses, none of these investigative outcomes need be revealed. This bill would end that secrecy but protect the identities of whistleblowers, interviewed witnesses and accused persons found to be innocent of any wrongdoing. The bill is in response to frustrated efforts by San Diego watchdog Mel Shapiro to get details on several years’ worth of city auditor’s investigations into complaints against city officials. POSITION: Support STATUS
SB 1002
SESSION: 2012 INFORMATION: SB 1002 (Yee) would authorize a state or local agency, when requested by a person, to provide an electronic record in a format in which the text in the electronic record is searchable by commonly used software. The bill would require the requester to bear the cost of converting the electronic record into a searchable format. The bill would also provide: Whenever a state agency is required by law to make data or a document available on the Internet, the data or document shall be in a format that is user-friendly and accessible. This paragraph shall not apply when the state agency does not have the data or document available for internal use in a user-friendly and accessible format. (b) For purposes of this article, “user-friendly and accessible” means: (1) The data or document can be copied and downloaded by using commonly used software and Internet applications. (2) The text of the data or the text in the document can be searched by using commonly used software and Internet applications. (3) The data or document is searchable on the Internet by commonly used Internet search engines. (c) This section shall not be construed to require a state agency to convert any data or document into a format that is user-friendly and accessible. POSITION: Support STATUS
SB 1001
SESSION: 2012 INFORMATION: SB 1001 (Yee) would amend the 1974 Political Reform Act (PRA) to increase the maximum amount of this fee to $50 per year to support technology updating for the Cal-Access website. The current PRA requires that lobbying firms and lobbyist employers register with the Secretary of State, and authorizes the Secretary of State to charge each lobbying firm and lobbyist employer a fee of up to $25 per year for each lobbyist required to be listed on its registration statement. POSITION: Support STATUS
SB 1000
SESSION: 2012 INFORMATION: SB 1000 (Yee) would subject an order or recommendation made by the commission and any accident report filed with the commission pursuant to these requirements to the California Public Records Act, except information already exempt from disclosure under the CPRA. Would repeal provisions of the Public Utilities Act prohibiting the commission from disclosing any information furnished by a public utility, a subsidiary, an affiliate, or corporation holding a controlling interest in a public utility, unless the information is specifically required to be open to public inspection under the act, except on order of the commission or a commissioner in the course of a hearing or proceeding. Instead the bill would provide that all records of, or filed with, the commission are presumed to be public under the CPRA. POSITION: Support STATUS
AB 1730
SESSION: 2012 INFORMATION: AB 1730 (Olsen) would require the Assembly and the Senate Rules Committees to provide each legislator with a monthly report of his or her office budget, and would require the legislator to publish the monthly budget report on his or her website. The bill would also prohibit either house of the Legislature from taking a vote on any bill until the bill, in its present form, has been made available to the public on an Internet Web site for at least 72 hours, unless the house dispenses with this requirement by a 2/3 vote. POSITION: Support if amended to remove 2/3 vote requirement. STATUS
AB 1541
SESSION: 2012 INFORMATION: AB 1541 (Dickinson) would subject an order or recommendation made by the commission and any accident report filed with the commission pursuant to these requirements to the California Public Records Act, except information already exempt from disclosure under the CPRA. Would repeal provisions of the Public Utilities Act prohibiting the commission from disclosing any information furnished by a public utility, a subsidiary, an affiliate, or corporation holding a controlling interest in a public utility, unless the information is specifically required to be open to public inspection under the act, except on order of the commission or a commissioner in the course of a hearing or proceeding. Instead the bill would provide that all records of, or filed with, the commission are presumed to be public under the CPRA. POSITION: Support STATUS