Court Confirms Public Records Law

Although the California Public Records Act (CPRA) requires state and local government records to be provided to anyone requesting them for no more than the cost of duplication, until recently, 21 of California's 58 counties sold their GIS digital parcel basemap data for significantly higher prices. In October 2005, the California Attorney General issued an official opinion stating that digital parcel data is subject to public inspection and copying under provisions of the CPRA (http://ag.ca.gov/opinions/yearly_index.php?year=2005, Look for 04-1105).

Subsequently, eight counties changed their data distribution policy, and now offer their GIS basemap data for free or nominal cost. However, 13 counties still maintain a high-cost data distribution policy, contending that GIS basemap data is exempt from the CPRA. They assert that the A.G.'s opinion does not have the force of law - only a Judicial judgment can confirm or deny their policy. Now, as of May 18, 2007, such a judgment has been rendered.

The California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) took Santa Clara County to court after the county denied CFAC's request for the county's GIS basemap data at the cost of duplication and with no other restrictions on how it might be used or redistributed. Judge James P. Kleinberg of the California Superior Court for Santa Clara County reviewed the many arguments and rebuttals of the case over three months, and issued the Court's decision in favor of CFAC. Judge Kleinberg directed Santa Clara County to:
1. Provide CFAC with an electronic copy of the GIS basemap, and
2. Charge CFAC the direct cost for the copy provided.

The decision affirms the legislative intent stated in the CPRA (Government Code §6250) that "access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state."

"Affordable access to the GIS basemap means that the media and ordinary citizens will have a powerful tool for judging government performance in such areas as tax assessments, zoning variances, and equitable deployment of public services," said Rachel Matteo-Boehm, of the San Francisco office of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (www.HRO.com), CFAC's lead counsel in the case. The decision ("CFAC vs Santa Clara County, No 1-06-CV-072630") recounts how analysis of the GIS basemap data, used in conjunction with other data, "could allow a property owner to question why, all else being equal, one particular parcel is assessed more than another."

The Court's decision rejected various claims made by the County that its basemap data should be exempted from the CPRA, for such reasons as the GIS basemap is software, the basemap is copyrighted, the basemap is a trade secret, the basemap is critical infrastructure information, and the public interest would be served by not making the basemap public. Citing the state constitution (Article I, Section 3, subdivisions (b)(1)-(2), "a statue shall be broadly construed if it furthers the people's right of access, and narrowly construed if it limits the right of access"), the Court concluded that the County failed to show a "clear overbalance" on the side of non-disclosure.

"This landmark decision vindicates our view that government agencies may not claim exclusive control over records that are created with tax dollars," said Peter Scheer, CFAC's Executive Director. CFAC is a nonprofit public interest organization dedicated to advancing free speech and open-government rights (www.CFAC.org). CFAC's members are newspapers and other news organizations.

" This is a validation for the citizens of Santa Clara county who are legally entitled to access their county's data, including the GIS basemap," said Bruce Joffe, organizer of the Open Data Consortium (www.OpenDataConsortium.org) and technical advisor to CFAC's legal team. "It is also a validation for the citizens of 12 other California counties that currently change more than the cost of duplication for their GIS basemap data." The Court has confirmed that CPRA applies to GIS data, enabling citizens to access their government's data and thereby hold their governments accountable. "This is a validation for all of California's citizens," Joffe added.

The full text of the Court's decision (27 pages) can be downloaded from http://www.cfac.org/content/cfac_v_santaclara.PDF

CONTACTS:

Peter Scheer
California First Amendment Coalition
Executive Director
office 415-460-5060
ps@cfac.org

Rachel Matteo-Boehm
Holme Roberts & Owen LLP
Counsel for CFAC in Santa Clara litigation
415-268-1996
rachel.matteo-boehm@hro.com

Bruce Joffe
GIS Consultants
510-238-9771
GIS.Consultants@joffes.com