SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has a reputation: home to Hollywood and Silicon Valley, places where bright people come up with the next best thing.
The Golden State is supposed to be a cutting-edge, forward-thinking and open place.
That's the image, but let's check reality: California today has a secrecy problem.
ABC10 and other major newsrooms across the state are banding together to shine light on that problem, which routinely prevents journalists from being able to gather information about the operation of state and local government.
Public officials often promise transparency, but fail to deliver. That's why the state's public records laws are vital. California's constitution and public records act (PRA) are designed to allow any member of the public to inspect the government's records.
ABC10 has used these records to tell all kinds of stories, like the time we found Governor Gavin Newsom's office spent tens of thousands of tax dollars to fly private investment bankers coast to coast. Our ongoing FIRE - POWER - MONEY investigation revealed this happened while the governor hired PG&E's longtime law firm to author a new state law to shield the company from the consequences of its own criminal negligence.
Records have also revealed when money is not being spent the way the state has promised, like Rani Slater's medical and dental needs. We found the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) delayed Slater's treatment so long that her teeth rotted, even though she's under the state's care, and you can't say DDS doesn't have plenty of funds for it. According to the 2024-2025 budget, the agency has over $15 billion.
Public records can shed light on wrongdoings and help alleviate suffering.
For example, we found records that helped Garth Schutte and his family fight DDS - the state agency that separated him from his family and did not provide him with proper care. The records we obtained told us Schutte is not alone, our investigation The Price of Care identified hundreds of cases just like his.
And public records helped Kim Wink learn more about the circumstances of her husband's mysterious death.
"An Amazon package gets better tracking than my husband's body did," Wink said.
Her husband's death never got a proper investigation by Solano County. Public records helped answer her questions.
Sometimes revealing information from public records can help change laws.
"Your reporting passed a law. Your reporting is getting people out of conservatorships," said Judy Mark, Founder and President of the organization Disability Voices United, referring to ABC10's Price of Care investigation.
When the public knows what's happening, we get a chance to make things better.
While these records are important to the work journalists do, public records law is supposed to make them open to everyone. These are your records!
You, the voters, put it in California's Constitution:
"The people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business, and therefore, the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies shall by open to public scrutiny."
Article 1, Section 3.
You're supposed to get the government's information when you ask for it, unless there's a clear public interest in keeping the records secret.
"Concealing documents, withholding documents should very much be the exception rather than the rule," said David Loy, legal director of First Amendment Coalition (FAC).
The FAC is a nonpartisan nonprofit that "protects and promotes a free press, freedom of expression and the people's right to know."
All too often, California officials claim exceptions when asked for information they'd rather not share.
"The law is pretty good on paper, but pretty bad in practice," said Loy.
ABC10 saw this from the California Department of Education (CDE). The state agency refused our public records request for Superintendent Tony Thurmond's calendar citing "security" reasons.
We requested the calendar in regards to our investigation into Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools, which uncovered how the school spends hundreds of millions of public school funds lavishly and with little oversight. ABC10 wanted to know how often Thurmond has met with leaders of the school.
There is precedent to release calendar entries, even for some of the most protected individuals in the world. During a phone call with the CDE, we pointed out the U.S. president's calendar is public, yet the agency still refused to release Thurmond's calendar.
We also saw public records laws fail in Placer County when an accused murderer escaped.
Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo promised answers, yet the sheriff's office wouldn't release basic records showing how many deputies it had on duty when the escape happened.
California has no formal appeals process when you run into brick walls like these. There's only one way to force the government to comply with public records laws: you have to sue.
ABC10 recently sued Gov. Newsom.
RELATED: ABC10 wins court battle for transparency: Gov. Newsom ordered to disclose PG&E meeting records
We wanted to see the calendar entries for meetings between the Governor's Cabinet Secretary Ann Patterson and PG&E - the largest power monopoly in the state.
In video of one of those meetings last May, Patterson referred to PG&E as "a really great partner." The comments came as PG&E was working to avoid legal and regulatory consequences for sparking a wildfire that killed four people.
We know Patterson met with PG&E multiple times that month, but we can't tell how many meetings or when. The Governor's Office fought in court to keep these meetings secret.
"Unfortunately, Governor Newsom is now in the exact same camp as Dick Cheney," said ABC10's attorney Steve Zansberg. "Cheney, who when he was (U.S.) Vice President, engaged in a whole number of meetings with representatives of the oil and gas industry in helping to bring forward policy and legislation that protected the industry. And he fought tooth and nail to keep the public from knowing."
In ABC10's case, a Sacramento judge ruled Newsom's office needs to hand over the calendar entries we asked for, but it took eight months to get that ruling.
"Documents delayed are documents denied," said Loy. "That is a problem with the California Public Records Act - there is no remedy short of litigation."
"This isn't meant for historians only," added Zansberg. "It makes it impossible to hold people accountable in real time, if ever."
Over a century ago, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote "sunshine is the best disinfectant."
Brandeis was referring to transparency and how important it is for a functional, honest democracy.
But California is increasingly operating in the dark. Our reporting at ABC10 shows it, so does the reporting of major newsrooms across the state.
"My guess is a lot of really amazing stories are just being kind of slowly strangled by the bureaucracy," said Kristina Flores Victor, a Political Science Professor at Sacramento State University.
If the trend towards secrecy continues, more of your records will be kept hidden.
"We have to imagine that voters may be less informed about issues they care about," said Flores Victor. "And then we're all poorer for it."
Because without records - and the facts they contain - how will we ever tell if we're actually getting the better California we all expect and deserve?
That's why ABC10 partnered with other journalism outlets across the state for this collaborative report. The California Transparency Reporting Project is a groundbreaking, multi-newsroom collaboration that is focused on increasing government transparency and accountability in California.
Over the next year, government and investigative reporters from newsrooms across the state will be working collectively to expose the public harm when agencies and officials withhold records and public information.
