California
California Public Records Act
Cal. Gov't Code § 7920 et seq. (recodified 2023 from §6250)
Public records law for California. Covers state agencies, counties, municipalities, school districts, and special districts.
The clock
10 calendar days
10 calendar days to determine; 14-day extension allowed for unusual circumstances.
Statutory: 10 calendar days to determine; 14-day extension allowed for unusual circumstances.. Actual medians vary widely by agency and request complexity; simple requests often 7-30 days, complex 60-300+.
Reading the statute itself
The text of this one is not reproduced here. The United States Code carries no copyright, so federal FOIA is printed on this site in full; the fifty state codes are published by fifty legislatures under their own claims of compilation copyright, so they are linked instead. Everything on this page — the deadline, the appeal path, the fee-waiver standard — is Aletheca’s summary of that text, and the official source is one click away.
If they refuse
- Appeal deadline
- Not specified
- Appeal route
- No admin appeal; petition for writ of mandate in superior court. Agency must justify withholding.
- Litigation
- Not specified
Fees and expedition
Quirks worth knowing
CPRA requester-friendly; agencies must assist and cite specific exemption. Huge volume.