California Newspaper Publishers Association Lobbying Against the Kinds of Public Records Delays Evident in UC Berkeley’s Foot-Dragging on Documents About Football Player Ted Agu’s Death

by Irvin Muchnick

On October 1 we told you about the goal post-moving timelines and soft deadlines the University of California keeps extending for responses to public records requests related to the 2014 death of football player Ted Agu.

The latest bulletin of the California Newspaper Publishers Association describes timely compliance with the California Public Records Act as a common problem, and  reform of the statute’s provisions as a priority for this industry trade group. See “CNPA collecting evidence of delay in access to public records,” https://cnpa.com/Public/Legislative_and_Legal/Legislative_Bulletin/CNPA_collecting_evidence_of_delay_in_access_to_public_records.aspx.

The article notes, “[S]easoned requesters know that many agencies across the state treat the 10-day trigger as a deadline to simply acknowledge receipt of the request, if at all. The standard in the law is that an agency must make public records ‘promptly’ available upon request and the agency has 10 days to make a determination whether an exemption applies. In practice, though, this promptness standard results in a wide range of response times, depending on the agency and its reluctance to release the records.”

In support of legislative lobbying for tighter CPRA language, CNPA is asking journalists, news organizations, and citizens to send to the organization’s legal counsel Nikki Moore, at [email protected], “any stories and documents related to delayed responses to CPRA requests.” Concussion Inc. will certainly be sending ours.

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“eBook Bonus: Introduction to ‘Ted Agu Papers,’ Cal Football Death Cover-Up,” https://concussioninc.net/?p=11359

“Table of Contents of the New eBook ‘TED AGU PAPERS’,” https://concussioninc.net/?p=11367

Amazon Kindle link: http://amzn.to/2aA2LDl

“Explainer: How ‘Insider’ Access Made San Francisco Chronicle and Berkeley J-School Miss Real Story Behind Death of Cal Football’s Ted Agu,” https://concussioninc.net/?p=10931

Complete headline links to our Ted Agu series: https://concussioninc.net/?p=10877