FREE SPEECH:
L.A. Supervisors’ Names Can’t Stop Bill Protecting Speech at Public Meetings Despite a last minute Chicken Little chorus signed personally by all Los Angeles County Supervisors, a bill backed by Californians Aware and others to stop local bodies from making it hard or impossible for citizens to speak their piece in a timely and informed way at local government meetings is on its way to the Governor, with an editorial boost from the Los Angeles Times.
PUBLIC INFORMATION:
CalAware Seeks Reasons for Abrupt Departure of Colton’s City Manager As reported by Leslie Parrilla in the San Bernardino Sun, Californians Aware has sent the City of Colton a California Public Records Act access demand for a variety of records that could explain why its recent city manager was relieved of that post so abruptly last week, amid speculation that he was investigating financial irregularities involving one or more city council members
Comment: Public Employee Unions Block Sunshine on Campaign $ Sources Really a simple concept, according to David Dayen on Salon. Requiring disclosure of the sources of larger contributions to campaigns for candidates and ballot measures, a liberal/progressive goal, would threaten the politically potent network of public employee unions which are the strongest supporters of the liberal/progressive legislative ranks.
FREE PRESS:
News Service Fights for Same-Day Access to Documents Filed with Trial Court As reported by Courthouse News Service (CNS), a federal judge in Los Angeles has for the second time refused CNS’s request for an order to the Ventura County Superior Court to provide access to case documents filed with the court on the same day they’re filed. A return to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has already ruled the matter to be justiciable despite the trial judge’s reluctance to get involved, is likely. The case was prompted by the Ventura Court’s two-tier access policy, which makes papers available to lawyers on the same day as filed, but to journalists only days or weeks later. The case is politically significant also because the two-tier policy appears to be supported by the California Judicial Council.
