Newsletter

Public Agencies Now Have 10 Business Days, Rather than 10 Calendar Days, To Acknowledge Receipt of a Public Records Act Request

By Mona G. Ebrahimi, Managing Attorney and Shareholder; Stephen Kim, Contributing Law Clerk

Originally published on October 12, 2026. Reprinted with permission from Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard.

Background
The CPRA gives every person the right to access public records that are in the custody of executive branch state agencies and local government agencies, unless they are exempt from disclosure by law. Under existing law, public agencies must communicate a determination of whether the request seeks copies of disclosable public records in possession of the agency within 10 calendar days. and, if records are to be withheld, the reasons for that determination. This 10 day time limit can be extended to up to 14 calendar days under unusual circumstances.

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New Requirement

Assembly Bill 1821 amends Government Code section 7922.535 to change the language of the agency determination timeline requirement from 10 calendar days to 10 business days with possible extensions up to 14 business days for unusual circumstances. This amendment balances the right of the public to access records in a timely manner while taking into account the various public services that state and local agencies are responsible for providing. AB 1821 will go into effect on January 1, 2027.

Takeaway: The 10 to 14 calendar day deadline for agencies to communicate a determination regarding the accessibility of public records has been expanded to 10 to 14 business days to provide additional time for agencies to properly respond to requests for public records.

Eligible Legislative Bodies Under the Brown Act Are No Longer Required to Provide a System for Electronic Requests for Meeting Agendas and Records, Provide Translated Meeting Agendas, or Assist with Translation Services During Meetings

On September 18, 2026, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 1187 (“SB 1187”) into law as an urgency measure. This bill amends the Ralph M. Brown Act (“Brown Act”) by rolling back certain amendments made to the Brown Act by Senate Bill 707 (“SB 707”), which expanded public access to local government meetings through the use of teleconferencing, video platforms, translation services, and internet technologies. (See our previous legal alert on SB 707 here: https://kmtg.com/news/legal-alerts/significant-brown-act-amendments-enacted-under-sb-707/).

Background

SB 707 made significant changes to the Brown Act in an effort to modernize and expand public access to local agency meetings. For example, “eligible legislative bodies” were required to (1) translate the agenda for each meeting and reasonably assist members of the public in translating or receiving interpretation during the meeting, (2) implement a system for the electronic acceptance and fulfillment of requests for meeting agendas and documents through email or an integrated agenda management platform, and (3) create and maintain an accessible internet webpage dedicated to informing the public about details regarding the public meetings.

New Requirement

Recognizing the burden to public agencies, Senate Bill 1187 amends Government Code section 54953.4 to eliminate certain requirements that excessively encumbered local government due to difficult and costly implementation by deleting the relevant provisions of SB 707 listed above. SB 1187 became effective immediately on September 18, 2026, as an urgency statute.

Takeaway: The requirement for local governments to have a system in place for electronically accepting and fulfilling requests for meeting agendas and documents, as well as the requirements regarding providing a translated agenda and other reasonable translation related assistance, has been eliminated.

Questions

If you have any questions regarding this Legal Alert, please contact Mona G. Ebrahimi from the Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard office or the attorney with whom you typically consult.

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