Judge rules against Hayward’s exorbitant public records fees

Good morning! It’s Friday — we made it.

A Bay Area judge recently ruled against the city of Hayward and its police department for charging exorbitant fees for public records.

The case stemmed from the National Lawyers Guild’s request for footage from officers’ body cameras as they helped patrol a contentious overnight Black Live Matters protest in Berkeley on Dec. 6-7, 2014 — a request police complied with after the guild paid $3,247.

Police justified the high cost by saying the footage had to be carefully examined and redacted.

CalWatchdog has more.  

In other news: 

• Loretta Sanchez, the Orange County Democratic Congresswoman, secured yesterday another high-profile Republican endorsement in her bid for U.S. Senate: Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. The Huffington Post has more.
• Sanchez is still trailing in polls, however. Democratic Attorney General Kamala Harris is still on top after her first place finish in last month’s primary, leading a new Field Poll 39 percent to 24 percent for Sanchez. The San Jose Mercury News has more.   
• After being placed under a three-year restraining order by a judge for domestic violence allegations and subsequently being stripped of his committee assignments, Assemblyman Roger Hernandez has fallen on hard times. Now, at least six fellow Democratic lawmakers have revoked their endorsements of Hernandez’s bid for Congress. The Los Angeles Times has more. 
• “After 42 years of regulating the state’s political ethics, with countless updates and tweaks, the Political Reform Act is due for an overhaul — and stakeholders are set to begin the process next week,” writes CalWatchdog.
• “Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration has been talking directly with oil companies in hopes of reaching a consensus on extending California’s landmark climate programs, opening a back channel with an industry the governor has harshly criticized as a barrier to addressing global warming,” writes the Los Angeles Times. 

Legislature: 

• Gone ’til August.

Gov. Brown:

• On vacation.

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On Thursday, July 14, Fair Political Practices Commission Chair Jodi Remke and John Mayer, president and CEO of California Forward (a government and political reform advocacy group), will host a webinar to kick off the first of two rounds of public participation to create a comprehensive overhaul of the act.  

Incumbents and candidates complain of an overly complicated system. The FPPC receives between 15,000-to-20,000 requests every year for advice from candidates and public officials.

Numerous legislative and voter-approved updates have left an “overly complex, cumbersome and sometimes contradictory” law, Remke said.

“This process is designed to simplify and streamline the act without weakening it or losing any accountability,” Remke said.

Law students at UC Berkeley and UC Davis have also contributed to the process by reviewing the law and making recommendations to the FPPC. And California Forward will help raise public awareness of the coalition’s efforts.

The Political Reform Act was passed in 1974, just two months before President Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal, with the protracted scandal highlighting the need for political ethics legislation. 

The law created the FPPC and regulated campaign finance, among other things. The original ballot summary is here:

“Requires reports of receipts and expenditures in campaigns for state and local offices and ballot measures. Limits expenditures for statewide candidates and measures. Prohibits public officials from participating in governmental decisions affecting their ‘financial interests.’ Requires disclosure of certain assets and income by certain public officials. Requires ‘Lobbyists’ to register and file reports showing receipts and expenditures in lobbying activities. Creates fair political practices commission. Revises ballot pamphlet requirements. Provides criminal and civil sanctions for violations. Enacts and repeals statutes on other miscellaneous and above matters.”