A small article in today's Contra Costa Times reports on a new policy at the Contra Costa Court regarding release of court records. This springs from legislation passed last year that lead Kern County to restrict access to police records.
The California Attorney General is going to issue an opinion on the applicability of Proposition 59, which amends the California Constitution to favor access to government records unless they are specifically exempted, to the disclosure of personal information. The Constitutional mandate should override SB 58, incorporated into the California Penal Code Section 964, which has been interpreted to allow courts and District Attorneys to redact police reports.
On the national front, Henry Waxman's bill, Restore Open Government Act of 2004, HR 5073, would reinstate the presumption of disclosure of government records unless explicitly exempted. Jan Tucker did a digest of the bill in the CALI Journal.
California Closing Criminal Records
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SB-731 Automatically Sealing of Conviction and Arrest Records A social
justice bill that implements a system to prospectively and retroactively
seal conv...
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