Californians Aware

05/28/2026

Fighters for Your Rights and Freedoms
We help citizens, public servants and journalists in California. We are a nonprofit organization, established to keep Californians aware of what they need to know to hold government and other powerful institutions accountable for their actions. Our mission is to support and defend open government, an inquiring press and a citizenry free to exchange facts and opinions on public issues.In short, Californians Aware is a center for information, guidance and initiatives in public forum law.

What is public forum law? Public forum law deals with people’s rights to find out what citizens need to know to be truly self-governing, and to share what they know and believe without fear or loss. These rights are complementary. Open meetings and public records laws keep information about civic ...

05/21/2026

We are a nonprofit organization. Your generous donation helps us in our mission.

Californians Aware offers membership to all for a very modest requested donation, and most services free to those who need them. We can do this only if those who have more to contribute do so.

05/14/2026

The CalAware Guide to Public Records and Private Information in California

This comprehensive guide to all California law providing or restricting access to government and judicial records focuses on the California Public Records Act (records of state executive branch officials, boards and departments and local government agencies) but also covers the statutes providing access to records of the state Legislature, case and administrative records of the trial and appellate courts, records of the California Judicial Council, the Commissions on Judicial Appointments and Judicial Performance, the State Bar, and locally adopted sunshine ordinances.
The guide analyzes each statutory provision as well as its interpretive case law and attorney general’s opinions, and includes the full text of each statute and court rule.
Issues addressed in the Public Records Act and comparable provisions governing the Legislature and court system include:
• the common law and early statutes on access;
• the definition of key terms;
• the basic access provisions on inspecting and obtaining copies of records; • the hundreds of exemptions from disclosure protecting personal, business and governmental interests;
• informal approaches to gaining access, including a model Public Records Act request letter; and
• legal remedies and litigation. Also examined is the constitutional open government mandate added by Proposition 59 of 2004.

https://www.more.calaware.org/calaware-guides/calaware-guide-public-records-private-information-california/

05/07/2026

SunScribe is a unique service that customizes your open government letter-writing needs with the help of a specially crafted form-letter wizard. With SunScribe you can:

generate a public records request letter to any California state or local agency
challenge a public meeting violation of any California state or local agency body
Programming of this wizard was overseen by our general counsel and California open government law expert, Terry Francke, who made sure that each letter is written to maximize your chances of success. SunScribe is available exclusively on our website, and the process has been streamlined to a few quick and simple steps.

SunScribe is a unique service that customizes your open government letter-writing needs with the help of a specially crafted form-letter wizard. With SunScribe you can:

04/30/2026

The CalAware Guide to Open Meetings in California

This comprehensive guide to all California law on access to government meetings focuses on the Ralph M. Brown Act (local government councils, boards and commissions), with parallel coverage of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (state government councils, boards and commissions) as well as special rules for meetings of:
• the California Legislature
• the California Judicial Council
• the Commissions on Judicial Appointments and Judicial Performance
• the University of California Board of Regents
• the Board of Trustees of the State Bar
• Student government bodies at California State University campuses
• Local school site parent advisory committees
• Homeowners association governing boards, and
• Locally adopted sunshine ordinances

The guide analyzes each statutory provision as well as its interpretive case law and attorney general’s opinions, and includes or links to the full text of each statute and court rule. Issues addressed for the Brown and Bagley-Keene Acts include the definition of key terms, the requirements for meetings, the rights of the public, exceptions from the open meeting requirement, dealing with violations without going to court, and legal remedies and litigation strategy. Also examined is the constitutional open government mandate added by Proposition 59 of 2004.

The guide is written by Terry Francke, general counsel for the nonprofit public interest organization Californians Aware, with more than 37 years’ experience helping journalists, citizen watchdogs, attorneys and even government officials and employees understand the open government laws. Francke is also author of the other CalAware Guides on Journalism Law in California and Public Records and Private Information in California.

https://www.more.calaware.org/calaware-guides/the-calaware-guide-to-open-meetings-california/

04/23/2026

Californians Aware is a nonprofit organization established to help journalists and others keep Californians aware of what they need to know to hold government and other powerful institutions accountable for their actions. Its mission is to support and defend open government, an enquiring press and a citizenry free to exchange facts and opinions on public issues. In short, Californians Aware will be a center for information, guidance and initiatives in public forum law.

CalAware’s prompt and expert legal advice not only helps me do my job, but helps me pass on that expertise to readers who are facing their own barriers to public access.

04/16/2026

Citizen Watchdog: The CalAware Guide

Sunshine laws like the Brown Act and the California Public Records Act (CPRA) are in themselves no guarantee of preventing the kind of bureaucratic organized crime that former elected and appointed leaders of the City of Bell were prosecuted for. Those offenses involved such practices as city council members collecting pay for their momentary meetings on do-nothing boards created simply to justify that pay and, on the part of the city manager and his assistant, manipulating certain contract documents and hiding others to hide astonishingly high pay for themselves and the police chief.
If officials are prepared to resort to outright lies, conspiracy and fraud to advance schemes they know the public would never accept, the open government laws may not stop them. But these and other transparency laws will make corruption much harder to commit and sustain, if reporters and citizen watchdogs understand and use them confidently and consistently. This is what was not happening in Bell—until the Los Angeles Times stumbled onto some rumors and odd gaps in information and began using the CPRA aggressively to uncover layer upon layer of astonishing self-dealing.
Even in the majority of communities free from criminal leadership, this guide will supply sometimes neglected or overlooked information that can be real news for journalists, fodder for public discussion by bloggers and other watchdogs, and an agenda for action by alert citizens.

https://www.more.calaware.org/calaware-guides/citizen-watchdog-calaware-guide/

04/09/2026

Help Californians Aware to build a better future! Now more than ever, our mission to hold government and other powerful institutions accountable for their actions is so important. We are growing to better serve the citizens, public servants and journalists in California.

https://californians-aware.causevox.com/

04/02/2026

The CalAware Guide to Journalism Law in California

This comprehensive guide to all law relevant to journalism in California covers both the rights of access to people, places and information afforded reporters and photojournalists as well as the protection for news accounts, editorial opinions and art, and post-publication encounters with legal challenges.

Issues addressed in the guide include:
• access to government meetings and records, court proceedings and judicial records at both the local and federal levels;
• cameras and recording equipment in the courtroom;
• information on hospital patients under HIPAA;
• avoiding liability for trespass, intrusion, secret eavesdropping and recording;
• California’s unique paparazzi laws;
• avoiding libel, slander and invasion of privacy; and
• protection from subpoenas and pretrial discovery under California and federal law.
A chapter on the rights of high school and college journalists covers California laws providing freedom from censorship and punitive discipline, as well as access to crime records at colleges and universities.
The pocket-sized guide presents information in a highly accessible question and answer format plus “News Notes” sidebars on obstacles or opportunities posed by the law. Also provided are detachable forms and statements including a CaliforniaPublic Records Act request; a template for a written demand for correction of a violation of the open meeting law; a caution against an impending unlawful police search for constitutionally protected material; and a statement to the court protesting exclusion from a legal proceeding.
The guide is written by Terry Francke, general counsel for the nonprofit public interest organization Californians Aware, with more than 36 years’ experience helping journalists, citizen watchdogs, attorneys and even government officials and employees understand the open government laws. Francke is also author of the other CalAware Guides on Public Records and Private Information in California and Open Meetings in California.

https://www.more.calaware.org/calaware-guides/the-calaware-guide-to-journalism-law-california/

03/26/2026

Become a member today! Support our cause and get exclusive benefits such as access to the answers in our knowledge base and Sunscribe help in making records requests!



https://www.calaware.org/support/membership/