2005 California Government Code Sections 9070-9080 Article 3.5. Legislative Open Records Act

9070.  The Legislature finds and declares that access to information
concerning the conduct of the people's business by the Legislature
is a fundamental and necessary right of every citizen in this state.
9071.  This article shall be known and may be cited as the
Legislative Open Records Act.
9072.  As used in this article:
   (a) "Person" includes any natural person, corporation,
partnership, limited liability company, firm, or association.
   (b) "Legislature" includes any Member of the Legislature, any
legislative officer, any standing, joint, or select committee or
subcommittee of the Senate and Assembly, and any other agency or
employee of the Legislature.
   (c) "Legislative records" means any writing prepared on or after
December 2, 1974, which contains information relating to the conduct
of the public's business prepared, owned, used, or retained by the
Legislature.
   (d) "Writing" means handwriting, typewriting, printing,
photostating, photographing, and every other means of recording upon
any form of communication or representation, including letters,
words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combination thereof, and all
papers, maps, magnetic or paper tapes, photographic films and prints,
magnetic or punched cards, discs, drums, and other documents.
9073.  Legislative records are open to inspection at all times
during the normal office hours of the Legislature and any person has
a right to inspect any legislative record, except as hereafter
provided.  Any person shall be furnished reasonable opportunities for
inspection of legislative records and reasonable facilities for
making memoranda or abstracts therefrom.  Any person may receive a
copy of a legislative record if such record is of a nature permitting
such copying.  The Legislature may establish fees reasonably
calculated to reimburse it for its actual cost in making such copies
available, provided such fee shall not exceed ten cents ($0.10) per
page.
9074.  All requests to inspect any legislative record shall be made
to the appropriate Rules Committee of each house of the Legislature
or the Joint Rules Committee, except that all requests to inspect any
legislative record in the possession of the Auditor General shall be
made to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee.  Such committees
shall be considered to have custody of all legislative records and
shall be responsible for making all legislative records available for
inspection.  Such committees shall promptly inform any person
whether any legislative record shall be made available for
inspection.  Such legislative records shall be made available for
inspection promptly and without unnecessary delay.  Whenever such
committee withholds any legislative record from inspection, within
four working days of the request to inspect such record, the
committee shall justify in writing the withholding of such record by
demonstrating that the record in question is exempt under the express
provisions of this article or that on the facts of the particular
case the public interest served by not making the record public
clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of the
record, provided that when the Legislature is not in session, such
committee shall furnish such written justification within 10 working
days of the request to inspect such record.  The Rules Committee of
each house, the Joint Rules Committee, and the Joint Legislative
Audit Committee shall adopt written guidelines stating the procedures
to be followed when making legislative records available for
inspection.
   The amendment of this section made at the 1981-82 Regular Session
of the Legislature does not constitute a change in, but is
declaratory of, the existing law.
9075.  Nothing in this article shall be construed to invalidate or
affect the operation of Sections 10207, 10208, 10525, and 10526 of
this code, or Temporary Joint Rule 37 of the Senate and Assembly in
effect on the effective date of this article, or to require the
disclosure of records that are any of the following:
   (a) Preliminary drafts, notes, or legislative memoranda, except as
provided in Section 9080.
   (b) Records pertaining to pending litigation to which the
Legislature is a party, or to claims made pursuant to Division 3.6
(commencing with Section 810) of Title 1, until the litigation or
claim has been finally adjudicated or otherwise settled.
   (c) Personnel, medical, or similar files, the disclosure of which
would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,
provided that the Senate Committee on Rules, the Assembly Committee
on Rules, or the Joint Rules Committee shall determine whether
disclosure of these records constitutes an unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy.
   (d) Records pertaining to the names and phone numbers of senders
and recipients of telephone and telegraph communications, provided
that records of the total charges for any such communication shall be
open for inspection.
   (e) Records pertaining to the name and location of recipients of
automotive fuel or lubricants expenditures, provided that records of
the total charges for those expenditures shall be open for
inspection.
   (f) In the custody of or maintained by the Legislative Counsel,
except those records in the public data base maintained by the
Legislative Counsel that are described in Section 10248.  Legislative
records shall not be transferred to the custody of the Legislative
Counsel to evade the disclosure provisions of this chapter.
   (g) In the custody of or maintained by the majority and minority
caucuses and majority and minority consultants of each house of the
Legislature, provided that legislative records shall not be
transferred to the custody of the majority and minority caucuses and
majority and minority consultants of each house of the Legislature to
evade the disclosure provisions of this chapter.
   (h) Correspondence of and to individual Members of the Legislature
and their staff, except as provided in Section 9080.
   (i) Records the disclosure of which is exempted or prohibited
pursuant to provisions of federal or state law, including, but not
limited to, provisions of the Evidence Code relating to privilege.
   (j) Communications from private citizens to the Legislature,
except as provided in Section 9080.
   (k) Records of complaints to or investigations conducted by, or
records of security procedures of, the Legislature.
9076.  Any person may institute proceedings for injunctive or
declarative relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce
his right to inspect any legislative record or class of legislative
records under this article.  The times for responsive pleadings and
for hearings in such proceedings shall be set by the judge of the
court with the object of securing a decision as to such matters at
the earliest possible time.
9077.  Whenever it is made to appear by verified petition to the
superior court of the county where the records or some part thereof
are situated that certain legislative records are being improperly
withheld from a member of the public, the court shall order the
committee charged with withholding the records to disclose the
legislative record or show cause why the committee should not do so.
The court shall decide the case after examining the record in
camera, if permitted by subdivision (b) of Section 915 of the
Evidence Code, papers filed by the parties and such oral argument and
additional evidence as the court may allow.
   If the court finds that the committee's decision to refuse
disclosure is not justified under the provisions of Section 9074 or
9075, he shall order the committee to make the record available for
inspection.  If the judge determines that the committee was justified
in refusing to make the record available for inspection, he shall
return the item to the committee without disclosing its content with
an order supporting the decision refusing disclosure.  Any person who
fails to obey the order of the court shall be cited to show cause
why he is not in contempt of court.
9078.  The court shall award court costs and reasonable attorney
fees to the plaintiff should the plaintiff prevail in litigation
filed pursuant to Section 9077.
9079.  If the court finds that the plaintiff's case is clearly
frivolous, it shall award court costs and reasonable attorney fees to
the public agency.
9080.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares that legislative
records relating to bills, resolutions, or proposed constitutional
amendments before the Legislature provide evidence of legislative
intent that may be important in the subsequent interpretation of laws
enacted in the Legislature.  The Rules Committee of each house of
the Legislature and the Joint Rules Committee shall inform each
committee of the Senate and Assembly, and each joint committee of the
Legislature, of their responsibility to preserve legislative records
and make them available to the public.
   (b) Each committee of the Senate or Assembly, and each joint
committee of the Legislature, having custody of legislative records
relating to a bill, resolution, or proposed constitutional amendment
assigned to that committee, shall maintain the legislative records
described in subdivision (d) in an official committee file.  The
committee shall preserve those records in its custody, or, in the
alternative, may arrange with the State Archives to lodge some or all
of the records there under the condition that the records be
preserved.
   (c) "Committee" for purposes of this section includes any entity
of the Senate or Assembly responsible for preparing analyses of
bills, resolutions, or proposed constitutional amendments that are to
be put to a vote by a quorum of the members of the Senate or
Assembly.
   (d) "Legislative records," for purposes of this section, means
records contained in an official committee file, including, but not
limited to, all of the following:
   (1) Committee staff analyses.
   (2) Written testimony.
   (3) Background material submitted to the committee.
   (4) Press releases.
   (5) Written commentary submitted to the committee on a bill,
resolution, or proposed constitutional amendment.  For purposes of
this paragraph, "written commentary" does not include the following:
   (A) Material not utilized by the staff of a fiscal committee in
the preparation of any analysis for the members of that committee.
   (B) Communications determined by the committee or its staff to be
confidential.
   (6) Versions of bills, resolutions, or proposed constitutional
amendments assigned to the committee.
   (7) Relevant interim hearing materials, studies, case materials,
and articles.
   (e) Legislative records contained in an official committee file
shall be open to inspection and copying by the public, pursuant to
Sections 9073 and 9074.  Each committee of the Senate or Assembly,
and each joint committee of the Legislature, shall adopt and
implement written procedures consistent with  Sections 9073 and 9074
for the public's access to official committee files maintained in the
committee's office.  The procedures shall provide for the time,
place, and other conditions under which committee files may be
inspected and copied.  Each committee shall make copies of its
written procedures available to the public.
   (f) The Rules Committee of each house of the Legislature or,
alternatively, the Joint Rules Committee shall provide for the
storage of any official committee file that is not maintained in the
office of the committee that created the file or lodged with the
State Archives.  The Rules Committees of each house of the
Legislature or the Joint Rules Committee, as the case may be, shall
adopt and implement written procedures consistent with Section 9073
for the public's access to official committee files so stored in its
custody.  The procedures shall provide for the time, place, and other
conditions under which committee files may be inspected and copied,
and the committee shall make copies of its written procedures
available to the public.
   (g) Nothing in this section requires making any legislative record
available for inspection that relates to any unchaptered bill,
resolution, or proposed constitutional amendment introduced in the
current legislative session, except in accordance with the
requirements and limitations specified in Sections 9073, 9074, and
9075.