“God DAMN, that bastard Trump and his flying monkeys just NEVER STOP pushing us down,” you‘d probably respond, if I told you your government is on the verge of making it WAY harder for you to get information from them, and making you pay through the nose for it, especially if that secretive government claims your “intent” in asking for that information is somehow “malicious.”

Well, hold your horses: it’s not Trump at all this time, this is our friendly California Democrats that we just keep voting into office and trusting. This new bill SEVERELY CURTAILING California’s Public Records Act is authored by La Habra assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco (D) and passed the assembly last month with the votes of OC Democrats Sharon, Avelino and Cottie. The only OC lawmakers to vote against it were Republicans Tri Ta, Laurie Davies, and that Sanchez lady.

What the hell, is this upside down world? Is there something good about this bill we’re just not seeing? Let’s look closer at:

AB 1821 (Pacheco.)

First. Our nation prides itself on its Freedom of Information Act, and our state prides itself on its own version, the CPRA signed by Governor Reagan WAY BACK in 1968. The CPRA proclaims that “access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.”

Perhaps naturally, government agencies (at the city, county, and state level) find the Act a pain in the ass, a nuisance. When there’s information they WANT you to know, well by God they already would have told you. For this reason, nearly every year, the lobby groups that represent cities & counties (that’s the California State Association of Counties and the League of California Cities) push some shitty bill trying to weaken the Act, and easily find some weak-kneed Democrat to carry it. That’s why this story may give you a feeling of deja vu… but I’m pretty sure previous bills haven’t usually gotten as far as this one already has.

AB 1821 aims to discourage you and me from pursuing CPRA requests by charging us excessive and unnecessary fees – an “administrative fee” of $22.35 per hour and a “professional fee” of $66.26 per hour – for us to see shit that’s already supposed to be publicly available. You’d be liable for these steep fees if the government determines that your purpose in obtaining this public info is “for commercial use”, or – here’s the REAL kicker – if the government determines you have “malicious intent” in pursuing this information.

What the hell? “Malicious intent” is not even defined, and our Democrat lawmakers are going to allow the government to determine if your intent, or mine, in finding out info we have a right to is MALICIOUS? Naturally if they don’t want to tell us something, our insistence on knowing it will seem malicious to them. Look at the gadflies who’ve been questioning the safety of Anaheim’s water – to the guardians of Anaheim’s status quo they are malicious! Everything we ever tried to find out in the Sidhu days, before the FBI showed up, seemed malicious to Harry and Todd! So much of what we’ve learned about Anaheim corruption and the misbehavior of its police force has been through PRA’s, and of course we seem malicious to them when we demand documents.

What I can’t believe is that these Democrats voted to make it so much harder, so much more expensive, put hurdles in the way of you and me finding out information the public has a right to. I don’t want to ever hear these politicians talk about “TRANSPARENCY” again, unless they change their votes!

To be updated with responses from some of these politicians, as well as Duane Roberts whose Anaheim Investigator is practically BUILT on CPRA requests. Hat-tip Dan Borenstein, c/o Steve Greenhut.

Duane Roberts Chimes In

AB 1821 is a bill designed to protect the powerful and punish the public. It takes a basic democratic right—the right to see what your government is doing behind closed doors—and turns it into something you can only access if you can afford it. The wealthy walk away untouched. Ordinary people get priced out, slowed down, or threatened into silence.

Under this bill, agencies can charge steep hourly fees if your request takes more than two hours of staff time. Those fees can easily run into the hundreds or thousands of dollars. Wealthy corporations, developers, and political insiders won’t even notice the cost. But working‑class residents, neighborhood groups, parents, activists, and small nonprofits will be forced to think twice before requesting anything. The message is clear: transparency is for people with money.

AB 1821 also stretches out deadlines, giving agencies more time to delay releasing information. Those delays aren’t neutral—they push disclosures past key votes, hearings, and elections, allowing officials to bury inconvenient facts until the political moment has safely passed. And by forcing people to prove who they are and why they want the records, the bill hands bureaucrats even more power to decide who gets access and who gets stonewalled.

But the most dangerous part is this: the bill gives the government the power to sue you if they decide your request is “malicious” or “frivolous.” That means if you’re a persistent critic—someone who keeps uncovering uncomfortable truths—an agency can drag you into court simply because they don’t like what you’re digging into. Wealthy interests can fight back. Regular people cannot. The threat alone is enough to shut most people up.

AB 1821 creates a two‑tier system of transparency. The wealthy, the connected, and the institutional players keep their access. They can afford the fees, the lawyers, and the delays. Everyone else—the people who rely on public records to expose corruption, challenge bad decisions, or simply understand what their government is doing—gets pushed out.

This bill doesn’t strengthen accountability; it destroys it. It turns public records into a privilege for the rich and a risk for everyone else, shielding government from the very people it is supposed to serve.