Proposition Summary

Public Records, Open Meetings. Legislative Constitutional Amendment. Measure amends Constitution to: • Provide right of public access to meetings of government bodies and writings of government officials. • Provide that statutes and rules furthering public access shall be broadly construed, or narrowly construed if limiting access. • Require future statutes and rules limiting access to contain findings justifying necessity of those limitations. • Preserve constitutional rights including rights of privacy, due process, equal protection; expressly preserves existing constitutional and statutory limitations restricting access to certain meetings and records of government bodies and officials, including law enforcement and prosecution records. Exempts Legislature’s records and meetings. Summary of Legislative Analyst’s Estimate of Net State and Local Government Fiscal Impact: • Potential minor annual state and local government costs to make additional information available to the public.

Proposition Number

59

Year

2004

Document Type

Proposition

Pass/Fail

Pass

Legislative Vote Results

Final Votes Cast by the Legislature on SCA 1 (Proposition 59) -- Assembly: Ayes 78 Noes 0 -- Senate: Ayes 34 Noes 0 --

Popular Vote Results

Y:9334852; A:83.4; N:1870146; B:16.6; Abst:1384685; C:11

Election Type

General Election

Proposition Type

Legislative Constitutional Amendment

For Author

MIKE MACHADO, State Senator; JACQUELINE JACOBBERGER, President, League of Women Voters of California; PETER SCHEER, Executive Director, California First Amendment Coalition

Against Author

GARY B. WESLEY, Attorney at Law

Rebuttal Author

GARY B. WESLEY, Attorney at Law

Rebuttal Against Author

MIKE MACHADO, State Senator; THOMAS W. NEWTON, General Counsel, California Newspaper Publishers Association; JOHN RUSSO, City Attorney, City of Oakland

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