With Halloween approaching, public agencies may face something more daunting than ghosts and goblins: a California Public Records Act (“CPRA”) request seeking years of emails, text messages, and other records from multiple departments.
Broad CPRA requests can require significant staff time to locate records, review potentially exempt information, and prepare documents for production. Below are
California employers will soon be required to incorporate anti-hate speech training into their existing mandatory sexual harassment prevention training programs. Assembly Bill (“AB”) 1803, recently signed into law, amends Government Code section 12950.1 to require covered employers to provide employees and supervisors with practical guidance on recognizing, reporting, and confronting workplace speech that targets individuals
Governor Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 1627 (“AB 1627”), the Misconduct Ends Law-Enforcement Trust Act of 2026, expanding the circumstances under which prior misconduct by an immigration enforcement officer may disqualify that person from serving as a peace officer in California. Importantly for law enforcement agencies conducting background investigations, prior employment in immigration enforcement is
Senate Bill 627 (“SB 627”), known as the No Secret Police Act, was signed and chaptered on September 20, 2025. Senate Bill 1004 (“SB 1004”), signed on September 29, 2026, makes several changes to the Act, including expanding its application to state-employed peace officers and modifying its exemptions, compliance deadline, and liability provisions.
First, SB
On August 6, 2026, the IRS issued Fact Sheet FS-2026-13, providing its most detailed guidance yet about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s (OBBBA) tax deduction for qualified overtime compensation. The new Fact Sheet identifies frequently asked questions and provides answers related to the deduction. For public agencies, the message is clear: 2026 payroll systems
Governmental 457(b) plans are a familiar part of the benefits package at many public agencies. Employees can defer a portion of their compensation and into the plan for retirement, often as a supplement to a defined benefit pension. It is tempting to think of a governmental 457(b) plan as the public sector version of a
July 1 marked the deadline for local agencies to comply with Senate Bill 827’s (“SB 827’s”) new website requirement. Under the law, agencies that maintain websites must post instructions and contact information for requesting certain ethics and financial training records. Although the website requirement took effect in July, SB 827’s related training requirements took effect
On July 1, 2026, significant new requirements under Senate Bill 707 (“SB 707”) became operative for certain “eligible legislative bodies.” SB 707, sometimes referred to as the “Super Brown Act,” represents one of the most substantial revisions to the Ralph M. Brown Act (“Brown Act”) in recent years. Although this blog post focuses
For a decade or more, the phenomenon of “cancel culture” – sometimes called “accountability culture” – has been the subject of national debate. On one side, institutions explain they have a strong interest in maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for their workers and should have the ability to remove individuals who threaten that environment.
Artificial intelligence (“AI”) has quickly evolved from an emerging technology into a tool that many employers use every day. Whether it is screening job applicants, drafting performance evaluations, summarizing workplace investigations, or assisting with policy development, AI is becoming increasingly integrated into public-sector operations.
California policymakers have taken notice. Earlier this year, Governor Gavin Newsom