Public Records Requests: Who, What, Why?
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Central to the mission of the County is our responsibility to serve with transparency and accountability. We do that in a variety of ways, including through compliance with the Public Records Act (PRA).
The PRA gives members of the public and the media access to public records maintained by the County unless they are exempt from disclosure by law. Those exemptions include personnel, medical and similar documents related to County employees, and records pertaining to pending litigation.
The County maintains an online PRA request portal to facilitate access to these records. Every County employee plays a role in ensuring those records are delivered as transparently and timely as they can be.
Record requests can include copies of your emails, reports, documents and even text messages.
Why It Matters
Supporting transparency and accountability are pillars of the County’s Strategic Plan. These efforts enhance public trust and facilitate the kind of meaningful community engagement that is at the center of the County’s General Management Strategy.
It is important to note that as a government employee you may become the subject of a PRA request. A member of the public can request all your emails, assignments you have completed, and even your personnel file. Although some of the information would be exempt, not all of the responsive records would be protected from release.
How It Started
While the County has been subject to the California PRA and responded to requests accordingly, the PRA Unit in the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors department was created to centralize the County’s PRA requests.
In late March 2024, the PRA Unit implemented NextRequest—an online platform for constituents to submit and receive responses to their PRA requests.
How It’s Going
In the less than six months since launching the online request center, the PRA Unit has helped process more than 2,200 PRA requests, released more than 20,000 documents to the public and maintained 100% compliance with response requirements.
How It Works
Requests for records can be made online, verbally, by email or letter. This means that any community member may ask you to provide records to them.
When an individual submits a PRA request, whether that’s using the online system or another method, the responsible staff person refers it to the appropriate department’s PRA Coordinator within 24 hours, in compliance with our “Public Records Act Policy.”
Next the records are gathered. Those records are then reviewed for responsiveness (whether they answer the question asked) and releasability (whether they should be given to the requestor).
There are a number of considerations given to whether a record is responsive and releasable because privacy is just as important as transparency. Under California law, there are more than 75 specific exemptions. Personal identifying information such as social security numbers and home addresses, attorney-client privilege, and law enforcement records are a few examples of items that are exempt from disclosure.
The County must provide a status update to a requester within 10 calendar days after receiving a request, and we must also do our best to assist the requester in finding what they are seeking.
When records are released to the requester, they are also released to the public on NextRequest three days after they were released to the original requestor.
Who Is My PRA Coordinator?
Each department has at least one public records coordinator. To find who is your PRA Coordinator, email COBrecords@sdcounty.ca.gov.
Key Takeaways
Our work documents and correspondence are public records. They can be released to the public. And we are all responsible to share requests for information with our department’s public records coordinator within 24 hours.
Learn more about the public records center, visit this FAQ.
