Butte County is pursuing the policy of opposing all legislation that might enhance citizen access to public records. Butte County released its legislative plan for 2007, which may not be at the top of your reading list but has one significant item of interest for public records researchers. The document, 2007 LEGISLATIVE/REGULATORY PLATFORM, developed by the Butte County Administrative Office, takes a broad brush approach to legislation impacting public records. The entire position on public records act requests is summed up in one statement.
Issue: Public Records Act Requests
Under current law authorizing requests for Public Records, there is great potential for abuse by people who submit unintelligible requests and expect county staff to help them find what they want. This is an onerous, labor-intensive, and expensive mandate for the county.
Action:
Oppose any new legislation that proposes to expand Public Records Act requests.
Well, well, well. We don’t want the civil service employees to help their citizens now, do we? This is absurd. What a step in the wrong direction. It almost sounds like it came from DMV.
Maybe we need a bunch of people to contact these folks and their local press and ask them what they are trying to hide.