Expenditures relating to visits from federal officials (Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
| Tracking # |
14955 |
| Multi Request | Expenditures relating to visits from federal officials |
| Submitted | Sept. 23, 2019 |
| Est. Completion | Oct. 31, 2019 |
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Communications
From: Emma North-Best
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Records describing, authorizing or mentioning expenses or personnel assignments in response to or accommodation of visits from officials in the federal government between January 1, 2001 and the present.
I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.
As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Emma Best
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following California Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 23, 2019. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Good morning,
I am in receipt of your public record request below and I was out on vacation until this morning as my out-of-office message stated. I will begin working on this today and the ten days will begin today, October 7, 2019 since this is the first day I saw this request.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you.
Michelle Mraule - Staff Services Manager I
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Office of Public and Employee Communications
Office - (916) 445-4950 | Direct Line (916) 445-8492
Michelle.Mraule@cdcr.ca.gov<mailto:Michelle.Mraule@cdcr.ca.gov>
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CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication with its contents may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. It is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). Unauthorized interception, review, use or disclosure is prohibited and may violate applicable laws including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of the communication.
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From: Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Dear Ms. Best,
Please see the attached letter regarding your recent public records request. If you have any questions please contact our office.
Thank you.
Michelle Mraule - Staff Services Manager I
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Office of Public and Employee Communications
Office - (916) 445-4950 | Direct Line (916) 445-8492
Michelle.Mraule@cdcr.ca.gov<mailto:Michelle.Mraule@cdcr.ca.gov>
[cid:image002.jpg@01D2CEDC.C50DD230]
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication with its contents may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. It is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). Unauthorized interception, review, use or disclosure is prohibited and may violate applicable laws including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of the communication.
From: Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
HI Emma,
I'm writing to you about your Sept. 23, 2019, Public Records Act request. In it, you asked for:
Records describing, authorizing or mentioning expenses or personnel assignments in response to or accommodation of visits from officials in the federal government between January 1, 2001 and the present.
Pursuant to Government Code ยง 6253(b), requests must reasonably describe an identifiable record or records. Also, under Rogers v. Superior Court 19 Cal.App.4th 469, 481, the request must be "focused and specific." Therefore, we need some clarification from you, please, on what you mean by "personnel assignments."
We also need clarification from you about the specific type of federal official. Federal court officials visit California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) facilities dozens of times each year. These officials include special masters, the federal receiver, judges, magistrate judges for inmate litigation settlement conferences, etc. for numerous class-action and other lawsuits. Federal law enforcement officials visit CDCR institutions as do federal elected officials. There likely could be thousands of pages of documents spanning the last 19 years and there is no provision under California law to waive fees for Public Records Act requests.
Please let me know as soon as you can if you are able to provide the specificity we need in order to search for responsive documents.
Terry Thornton
Deputy Press Secretary
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Office of Public and Employee Communications
o: (916) 445-4950
c: (916) 716-5989
terry.thornton@cdcr.ca.gov<mailto:terry.thornton@cdcr.ca.gov>
pronouns: she/her/hers
https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/
From: Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Good morning Ms. Best,
Our Deputy Press Secretary, Ms. Terry Thornton, sent you the following email asking you for clarification on October 18, 2019. Although the extension letter I sent you indicated we would provide you with a determination by October 31, 2019, we cannot do so without a response to Ms. Thornton's email which asked you to clarify your request. If I do not hear back from you with clarification by November 8, 2019, this matter will be considered closed.
Thank you in advance for your reply. Please see the email copies after my signature. Thank you.
Michelle Mraule - Staff Services Manager I
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Office of Public and Employee Communications
Office - (916) 445-4950 | Direct Line (916) 445-8492
Michelle.Mraule@cdcr.ca.gov<mailto:Michelle.Mraule@cdcr.ca.gov>
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