Editorial: How City Attorney Mara Elliott, Sen. Ben Hueso would enable cover-ups

The California Public Records Act is a hugely valuable law whose worth has been shown over and over again as it is used to expose government problems, lapses and corruption — and just to shine light on public documents and activity. It can also be a big headache for government officials, such as those in the city of San Diego who receive thousands of requests for records each year, not only from journalists but from members of the public or law firms.

This backdrop is crucial to understanding Senate Bill 615, which Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, introduced Friday at the request of San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott. It would require that individuals or entities seeking records “meet and confer” with representatives of the agencies to discuss exactly what records they hope to obtain before suing to obtain them. It would also require that to win such a lawsuit, the litigant must prove an agency “knowingly, willfully and without substantial justification failed to respond to a request for records.” A Hueso aide said the measure would speed up, not slow down, processing of record requests.

But as media attorneys interviewed by Voice of San Diego noted, the bill would add a new hurdle to obtaining public records and sets a high bar, weakening the only punishment agencies face for stonewalling record requests. That latter fact overwhelms any argument in favor of the bill. Government agencies and officials need to realize they are stewards of the public trust. Handling public records requests — and releasing public information — is a part of public service. There are numerous examples of governments delaying or refusing to release records. That bad behavior shouldn’t be incentivized.

If there are ways to streamline the records request process that don’t empower government cover-ups, bring them on. But in its present form, this bill from Hueso and Elliott can’t die soon enough.

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