California's Proposition 42

THE PUBLICS RIGHT TO KNOW ACT

[Amended Section 3 of Article 1 and Section 6 of Article XIII B ]

Approved on June 3, 2014

YES: 1,793,566

NO: 1,122,139

Open and Transparent Government

California Proposition 42, the California Compliance of Local Agencies with Public Records Act requires all local governments and agencies to comply with the California Public Records Act and the Open Meeting Laws (Ralph M. Brown Act).

This Constitutional Amendment quarantees a persons right to inspect public records at all times during the office hours of state or local agencies. Each public agency must post these rules at their offices.

Proposition 42 now requires the public agencies to bare the costs of enforcing this Constitutional Amendment. If a public entity is sued for non-compliance, of these laws,  the entity will no longer be reimbursed by the State of California.

BACKGROUND

In 1979, Californians approved Proposition 4, also known as the "Gann Limit" Initiative. The Initiative required the State to reimburse local governments expenses when such expenses are incurred due to a state mandate. Proposition 1A, passed in 2004, permitted the state government to suspend reimbursements to local governments during a fiscal crisis. Governor Jerry Brown approved the suspension of more than 50 state mandates on local governments in 2013-2014 state budget. This prompted the California Legislature to place Prop. 42 on the ballot