Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/public-records/)
The policy change comes after a judge found the county failed to cite a valid legal justification to destroy records before two years. ACLU lawyers say the new policy goes against the court ruling, while county officials say it’s entirely legal.
A new policy, up for approval Tuesday, comes on the heels of a court ruling and order this summer tossing out the county’s previous reason for destroying records before two years.
County officials are trying “to circumvent California Supreme Court precedent regarding the preservation of text messages,” the ACLU told the court in response. County officials declined to respond to questions about their proposed order.
OC officials may have found a way to continue to immediately destroy many public records of their government communications, despite a court ruling that it’s probably illegal to do so.
Orange County officials likely are breaking the law with a policy allowing immediate destruction of public records and another rule banning public commenters from asking questions of county supervisors or addressing supervisors by name unless they have permission, a Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.
ACLU lawyers say the county has a host of illegal and unconstitutional policies and practices that stifle public information and debate. A judge now will decide if officials are breaking the law and whether to block their policies.
At the request of District Attorney Todd Spitzer, police chiefs and the Sheriff are working on a policy for all departments to uniformly handle the new state law that creates transparency in law enforcement discipline records, but is opposed by many police unions.
Orange County’s five elected supervisors preside over $6 billion in public spending and pressing issues like homelessness, mental health and drug treatment, and how to balance spending between those programs and county jails, the Sheriff’s Department, and District Attorney’s Office.
A state bill AB 1479 – up for vote on Friday – would create a fine for agencies that grossly violate California’s Public Records Act. A recent successful Voice of OC lawsuit against the County of Orange, appealing denied public records about an evangelist handcuffed by a county supervisor while armed, is a prime test case for the fine.
A hearing is scheduled for Friday morning on whether to ban the release of records sought by conservative publisher Jon Fleischman.
