-- Last revised 10/30/23 --

California Public Records Act Clean-Up - Study G-400

    Chapter 150 of the Statutes of 2016 directs the Law Revision Commission to:

[S]tudy, report on, and prepare recommended legislation as soon as possible, considering the Commission's preexisting duties and workload demands, concerning the revision of the portions of the California Public Records Act and related provisions, and that this legislation shall accomplish all of the following objectives:

(1) Reduce the length and complexity of current sections.

(2) Avoid unnecessary cross-references.

(3) Neither expand nor contract the scope of existing exemptions to the general rule that records are open to the public pursuant to the current provisions of the Public Records Act.

(4) To the extent compatible with (3), use terms with common definitions.

(5) Organize the existing provisions in such a way that similar provisions are located in close proximity to one another.

(6) Eliminate duplicative provisions.

(7) Clearly express legislative intent without any change in the substantive provisions

    The Commission studied the CPRA as directed and approved a final recommendation proposing to recodify the CPRA in a more user-friendly manner without any substantive change (see California Public Records Act Clean-Up (Nov. 2019)).

    The Commission also approved a final recommendation consisting of conforming revisions for the CPRA recodification (see California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Conforming Revisions (Nov. 2019)).

    In 2021, Assemblymember Chau introduced a bill to implement the proposed recodification (AB 473 (Chau)). He also introduced a companion bill, to implement the conforming revisions (AB 474 (Chau)). Both bills were enacted. See 2021 Cal. Stat. chs. 614, 615.     However, some of the conforming revisions were nullified by substantive bills affecting the same code sections. Those conforming revisions have been reintroduced in the Legislature. See SB 1380 (2021-22), AB 1754 (2023-24).

    The CPRA recodification became operative on January 1, 2023. See Gov’t Code § 7931.000. A disposition table and a derivation table are available at no cost, to help with the transition to the new statutory scheme.

Related Material

• Final Recommendation
• Tentative Recommendation
• Commission Decisions (Meeting Minutes)
• Staff Memoranda
• Subscribe to Receive Notice of New Materials

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Final Recommendation

• California Public Records Act Clean-Up -- [November 2019]

• California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Conforming Revisions -- [November 2019]

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Tentative Recommendations and Other Requests for Comment

• Tentative Rec. -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Conforming Revisions (July 2019)

• Tentative Rec. -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up (May 2019)

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Meeting Minutes

• November 18, 2021 Meeting Zoom Teleconference
• December 17, 2020 Meeting Zoom Teleconference
• November 21, 2019 Meeting in Sacramento
• September 26, 2019 Meeting in Sacramento
• July 26, 2019 Meeting in Sacramento
• May 30, 2019 Meeting in Sacramento
• April 4, 2019 Meeting in Sacramento
• February 7, 2019 Meeting in Sacramento
• December 7, 2018 Meeting in Sacramento
• October 11, 2018 Meeting in Sacramento
• August 17, 2018 Meeting in Burbank
• May 4, 2018 Meeting in Sacramento
• February 8, 2018 Meeting in Sacramento
• December 1, 2017 Meeting in Sacramento
• August 4, 2017 Meeting in Los Angeles
• February 2, 2017 Meeting in Sacramento

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Staff Memoranda

• Memo 2022-4, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Follow-Up Legislation (01/13/22)

• Memo 2021-54 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Follow-Up Legislation (11/16/21)

• Memo 2021-42, Supp. 1 -- 2021 Legislative Program: California Public Records Act Clean-Up (09/15/2021)

• Memo 2021-35, Supp. 1 -- 2021 Legislative Program: California Public Records Act Clean-Up (08/23/2021)

• Memo 2021-25, Supp. 1 -- 2021 Legislative Program: California Public Records Act Clean-Up (06/17/2021)

• Memo 2021-14, Supp. 1 -- 2021 Legislative Program: CPRA Recodification and Conforming Revisions (03/19/2021)

• Memo 2020-68 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Conforming Revisions (Update of Proposed Legislation) (12/15/20)

• Memo 2020-67 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up (Update of Proposed Legislation) (12/15/20)

• Memo 2019-57, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up (Comments of County of Santa Clara) (11/19/19)

• Memo 2019-58, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up (Conforming Revisions) (11/14/19)

• Memo 2019-58 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up (Comments on Tentative Recommendation Presenting Conforming Revisions) (11/14/19)

• Memo 2019-57 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up (Draft Recommendation) (11/8/19)

• Memo 2019-47, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up (Comments on Tentative Recommendation) (9/24/19)

• Memo 2019-47 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up (Comments on Tentative Recommendation) (9/19/19)

• Memo 2019-38, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Conforming Revisions (7/25/19)

• Memo 2019-38 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Conforming Revisions (7/18/19)

• Memo 2019-31, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up (Draft of Tentative Recommendation) (5/29/19)

• Memo 2019-31 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up (Draft of Tentative Recommendation) (5/22/19)

• Memo 2019-25 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 6. Other Exemptions From Disclosure (4/2/19)

• Memo 2019-24 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Conforming Revisions (3/21/19)

• Memo 2019-11 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Current Version of California Public Records Act (1/16/19)

• Memo 2019-13 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 5. Specific Types of Public Records (Chapters 14-19) (1/10/19)

• Memo 2019-12 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Cumulative Draft of Material Previously Reviewed (12/20/18)

• Memo 2018-66 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 5. Specific Types of Public Records (12/3/18)

• Memo 2018-65 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Cumulative Draft of Material Previously Reviewed (11/29/18)

• Memo 2018-64 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Updated Version of Tentative Outline (11/20/18/18)

• Memo 2018-53, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Cumulative Draft of Material Previously Reviewed (10/10/18)

• Memo 2018-54 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 5. Specific Types of Public Records (Chapter 5) (10/05/18/18)

• Memo 2018-53 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Cumulative Draft of Material Previously Reviewed (9/5/18)

• Memo 2018-32 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 5. Specific Types of Public Records (Chapters 2-4) (7/30/18)

• Memo 2018-40 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Cumulative Draft of Material Previously Reviewed (7/19/18)

• Memo 2018-26, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 5. Specific Types of Public Records (Chapter 1. Crimes, Weapons, and Law Enforcement) (5/4/18)

• Memo 2018-26 -- Part 5. Specific Types of Public Records (Chapter 1. Crimes, Weapons, and Law Enforcement) (4/9/18)

• Memo 2018-25 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 4. Enforcement (3/15/18)

• Memo 2018-24 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Cumulative Draft of Parts 1-3 (3/15/18)

• Memo 2018-23 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Current Version of Tentative Outline (2/21/18)

• Memo 2018-11, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 3. Inspection Procedures (Public Comment) (2/6/18)

• Memo 2018-11 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 3. Inspection Procedures (1/31/18)

• Memo 2018-10 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Cumulative Draft of Material Previously Reviewed (1/17/18)

• Memo 2018-09 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Current Version of Tentative Outline (1/17/18)

• Memo 2018-08 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Current Version of California Public Records Act (1/10/18)

• Memo 2017-48, Supp. 2 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Revised Tentative Outline (11/29/17)

• Memo 2017-60 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 2. Disclosure and Exemptions Generally (11/28/17)

• Memo 2017-50, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Cross-References (11/1/17)

• Memo 2017-48, Supp. 1 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Revised Tentative Outline (Public Comment) (9/22/17)

• Memo 2017-50 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Cross-References (9/19/17)

• Memo 2017-49 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Part 1. General Provisions (9/6/17)

• Memo 2017-48 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Revised Tentative Outline (9/6/17)

• Memo 2017-37 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Stakeholder Outreach (8/1/17)

• Memo 2017-24 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Proposed Organization (8/1/17)

• Memo 2017-5 -- California Public Records Act Clean-Up: Scope of Study (1/26/17)

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