Despite a progressive reputation, California is where public records laws are abused | Opinion
By Karl Olson, The Sacramento Bee, April 02, 2023
At the national level, we have a strong Freedom of Information Act. But as anyone who’s made a FOIA request to a federal agency can tell you, the bureaucrats in federal agencies habitually resist disclosing records, responding to FOIA requests with delays at best and flimsy denials at worst. Lloyd Chapman, president of the American Small Business League, a small business advocacy group which has fought and won dozens of FOIA lawsuits, says agencies either drag their feet or invoke weak excuses to avoid disclosing information about things as basic as the federal budget.
And it’s no better at the state and local levels.
