City Council
November 18, 2025
Public RecordsRequests Process
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California Public Records Act
California Government Code Section 7920 et seq
Allows public access to government records unless specific exemption applies Public may request public records in writing or orally and inspect and obtain copies of "public records" - any writing related to the public's business prepared, owned, used or retained by a California state or local agency Agencies must respond to requests within ten calendar days indicating how and when it will produce records The law allows a 14-day extension for this determination in cases involving voluminous and/or complex requests Agencies must declare records located but exempt from production along with the citation permitting the exemption
City of Fullerton Records Requests
Fullerton Records Request Portal Launched FY 2020-21
Processing request utilizes approximately 85% FTE in City Clerk’s Office in addition to department coordinators and legal review 51 records requests in progress on November 10, 2025 (historically 15 to 20 in progress) Public Works and Community and Economic Development Departments receive the most requests Requests increased in complexity in recent years mostly due to requests for email and text message communications 3 Annual Requests
4 Calendar Year
Number of Requests
2021
875
2022
877
2023
833
2024
904
2025
1006 (as of Nov. 10 2025)
CPRA Trends
Public records request volume risen 161% since 2018
Complexity increased 72% since 2018
Driven by increased public engagement, media and commercial requests The 2017 City of San Jose v. Superior Court ruling clarified public employees and officials must disclose electronic communications when using personal accounts or devices adding more complexity to retrieving records in response to a public records request Expanded scale, diversity and complexity strains resources to respond accurately and timely while also attending to other agency work https://granicus.com/resource/2025-public-records-complexity-benchmark-report/ .
5 Online Portal
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