City passes 10-day deadline on records requests without citing reason as required (2024)

The state’s public records law requires governments to offer a formal response to a request for public records within 10 days — and it offers an extension “in unusual circ*mstances.”

It’s not so unusual in San Diego.

The City of San Diego routinely asks for the extension 10 days after receiving a request, at least in responding to requests from The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Further, the California Public Records Act only allows governments to take more time if they identify — and cite to the requester — one of four specific situations:

Records need to be collected from a remote facility
Voluminous records need to be examined
Officials need to consult with another agency
Data needs to be compiled or constructed electronically

The city’s 10-day letters to The San Diego Union-Tribune have often not cited any of the four reasons, as required by law, when asserting the right to take more time responding to a records request.

The law also requires the city to specify “the date on which a determination is expected to be dispatched.” San Diego’s letters are more open-ended than that.

The standard 10-day message says, “To the extent that the city has responsive documents, we will make them available for your review pursuant to the California Public Records Act. [We] hope to have a response to you within the next week.”

The message has been the same, regardless of what is being requested or what department is leading the city’s response. The U-T asked for copies of responses sent to other requesters, to see whether there is a pattern of failing to supply a reason for delay. The city declined the request.

Lea Fields-Bernard, who coordinated public-records responses until recently, did not answer a series of questions about the boilerplate message, including how and whether the city considers it compliant with state law.

“Thank you for bringing to our attention your observations about city responses to [California Public Record Act] requests,” Fields-Bernard said by email. “We are reviewing our practices and will inform you of any changes that may result.”

City officials including spokeswoman Katie Keach have yet to alert U-T Watchdog to any changes in city protocol. The U-T has been examining the city’s responses to records requests since it launched NextRequest, an online records portal, last year.

The public records law is based on the foundational right of every person in the state to have access to information about the conduct of the people’s business. It says agencies can request one 14-day extension to the 10-day deadline, but says an extension can never be used to simply delay access to information.

“Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to permit an agency to delay or obstruct the inspection or copying of public records,” the law says.

Background

Is new portal speeding or slowing city records requests?
San Diego says it runs no reports to track progress on city record requests
Public records are not always readily available in San Diego

Text from Government Code 6253

(c) Each agency, upon a request for a copy of records, shall, within 10 days from receipt of the request, determine whether the request, in whole or in part, seeks copies of disclosable public records in the possession of the agency and shall promptly notify the person making the request of the determination and the reasons therefor. In unusual circ*mstances, the time limit prescribed in this section may be extended by written notice by the head of the agency or his or her designee to the person making the request, setting forth the reasons for the extension and the date on which a determination is expected to be dispatched. No notice shall specify a date that would result in an extension for more than 14 days. When the agency dispatches the determination, and if the agency determines that the request seeks disclosable public records, the agency shall state the estimated date and time when the records will be made available. As used in this section, “unusual circ*mstances” means the following, but only to the extent reasonably necessary to the proper processing of the particular request:

(1) The need to search for and collect the requested records from field facilities or other establishments that are separate from the office processing the request.

(2) The need to search for, collect, and appropriately examine a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records that are demanded in a single request.

(3) The need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another agency having substantial interest in the determination of the request or among two or more components of the agency having substantial subject matter interest therein.

(4) The need to compile data, to write programming language or a computer program, or to construct a computer report to extract data.

(d) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to permit an agency to delay or obstruct the inspection or copying of public records. The notification of denial of any request for records required by Section 6255 shall set forth the names and titles or positions of each person responsible for the denial.

(e) Except as otherwise prohibited by law, a state or local agency may adopt requirements for itself that allow for faster, more efficient, or greater access to records than prescribed by the minimum standards set forth in this chapter.

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