Open Records

California’s public records law is the California Public Records Act (CPRA), enacted in 1968 and recodified in 2022 at Government Code § 7920.000 et seq. (previously at Government Code § 6250 et seq. – both citations appear in older materials referring to the same law). It gives every person the right to access public records held by state and local agencies unless a specific exemption applies.

Who can request records

Any person may request records under the CPRA – there’s no residency or citizenship requirement, and no need to state a reason for the request.

What’s covered

“Public records” means any writing relating to the conduct of the public’s business, prepared, owned, used, or retained by a state or local agency, regardless of its physical form. Agencies aren’t required to create new records, do legal research, answer questions, or compile/index information that doesn’t already exist in that form.

How to request

Requests go to the specific state or local agency holding the records – there’s no single statewide portal, though many agencies (and some counties) use an online request system like NextRequest. A request must reasonably describe an identifiable record clearly enough that the agency can figure out what’s being sought; if it’s unclear, staff may ask for clarification.

Response timeline

The CPRA requires an agency to respond within 10 days (calendar days per most current agency guidance, though a pending 2026 bill, AB 1821, would shift this to 10 business days and allow up to a 14-business-day extension – worth confirming the current status when citing this). Importantly, this 10-day window is only the deadline for the agency to determine whether it holds disclosable records and notify the requester of that determination and an estimated date for the records – it is NOT a deadline for actually producing the records. The agency must state an estimated date and time when records will be available, but the CPRA doesn’t set a hard deadline for that production itself.

Fees

– Agencies cannot charge a fee simply for inspecting records in person. – For copies, agencies may charge the “direct cost of duplication” or an applicable statutory fee – commonly $0.10-$0.25 per page depending on the agency. – Payment can be required in advance of providing copies. – A pending 2026 bill (AB 1821) would add a separate fee for search and review time on requests exceeding 2 hours of search time (or 10 hours cumulative in a month for one requester) for commercial-use requests specifically – this hasn’t taken effect as settled law as of this writing, so check current status. – Electronic records are often provided free or at reduced cost compared to paper copies.

Exemptions

The CPRA doesn’t apply to the judicial or legislative branches. Common exemptions include records specifically exempted by law, certain law enforcement investigative files, and records where personal privacy interests outweigh the public interest in disclosure.

If your request is denied

California has no formal administrative appeals process. Any person may petition the Superior Court (in the county where the records are held) to enforce the CPRA under Government Code § 7923.100. The requester bears the burden of proving a violation, and the agency benefits from a presumption that it acted reasonably and in good faith – but a requester who succeeds on “any significant issue” can recover attorney’s fees, which is one of the CPRA’s stronger practical remedies given the lack of a formal appeals process.

A note on terminology

California’s law is officially the “California Public Records Act” (CPRA) – the same basic type of law that other states call an “Open Records Act,” “FOIA Laws” (South Carolina), or “Public Records Laws” (Tennessee).