California Public Records Act: fees, the redaction hour, deadlines, denial costs

Fees

The unfunded redaction hour, at California scale.

Start with the whole fee rule. A requester who asks for copies pays fees covering direct costs of duplication, or a statutory fee where another statute sets one. § 7922.530(a). Inspection during office hours carries no charge in the act. § 7922.525(a). That is the whole price list.

Electronic copies follow the same rule: the charge is the direct cost of producing a copy in an electronic format. § 7922.575(a). The agency produces in any electronic format it holds. § 7922.570(b).

The California Supreme Court closed the question for electronic records in 2020, in National Lawyers Guild v. City of Hayward. The city had billed for the hours staff spent removing exempt material from digital records. The court held the act does not allow the charge. Redacting is not data extraction.

The narrow exception survives. When a record is produced only at regularly scheduled intervals, or a request requires data compilation, extraction, or programming, the requester bears the production cost. § 7922.575(b). That clause covers building a record that does not yet exist.

Exports run long, one custodian's export overlaps the next, and every attachment is a record of its own. Ten thousand pages carry the same fee rule as ten. The fee recovers cents. The review hours recover nothing.

The clock

Ten days to a determination that says when.

Within 10 days of receipt, the agency determines whether the request, in whole or in part, seeks disclosable public records, and promptly notifies the requester with reasons. § 7922.535(a). A yes also states the estimated date and time the records will be made available.

Unusual circumstances buy up to 14 more days. The extension comes by written notice from the head of the agency or a designee, states the reasons, and cannot exceed 14 days. § 7922.535(b). The statute defines unusual circumstances, counted only to the extent reasonably necessary. § 7922.535(c):

• Field facilities. Records held away from the office processing the request.
• Volume. A voluminous amount of separate and distinct records in a single request.
• Consultation with another agency having substantial interest.
• Data work. Compiling data, writing a program, or constructing a computer report to extract data.
• Cyberattack. Servers the agency cannot access, for as long as access is lost.
• A proclaimed state of emergency that directly affects staffing or facilities. Records created during and related to the emergency stay on the normal clock. The last two joined on January 1, 2026.

The determination is a decision about disclosability. Production has its own word: disclosable copies go out promptly on payment of the fee. § 7922.530(a).

Exemptions

Exempt is narrow, and the rest still goes out.

Disclosure is the default. An agency justifies withholding by demonstrating that the record is exempt under an express provision of the division, or that on the facts of the particular case the public interest served by not disclosing the record clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure. § 7922.000. That second route is the catch-all.

The named exemptions are organized by subject. Two carry most of the daily load:

• Personnel, medical, or similar files, when disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. § 7927.700.
• Investigatory and security records. Complaints, investigations, intelligence information, and security procedures of the listed law enforcement offices, and investigatory or security files compiled for correctional, law enforcement, or licensing purposes. § 7923.600(a).

Redact and release. Any reasonably segregable portion of a record must be made available after deletion of the portions exempted by law. § 7922.525(b). The unit of withholding is the exempt passage.

The act

One division of the Government Code, renumbered in 2023.

The division is known and cited as the California Public Records Act. § 7920.000. It has lived in Division 10 of Title 1 since January 1, 2023, when the CPRA Recodification Act of 2021 renumbered its former chapter. § 7920.005.

Older request templates and most web guides still carry the numbering the division replaced, and those cites point at repealed sections. Current cites start at 7920. § 7920.005.

What counts as a public record. Any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public's business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency, regardless of physical form or characteristics. § 7920.530(a). It turns on content and reaches every state and local agency. Email qualifies, and an attachment is a writing of its own.

Practical notes

For the person actually answering requests.

• Put the estimated date in the determination. A granted request states the estimated date and time of availability. § 7922.535(a).
• Sign every denial. In writing, with the names and titles or positions of each person responsible. § 7922.540.
• Produce electronic records electronically. In any format the agency holds. § 7922.570(b).
• Redact rather than withhold. The reasonably segregable rest of a part exempt record must go out. § 7922.525(b).

California Public Records Act questions, answered from the statute

This page is general information, not legal advice. The statute is the authority: read it at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov and check anything that matters before it goes out.