The California Public Records Act gives every person the right to access public records in an agency's physical custody unless those records are exempt from disclosure by law. The Secretary of State's request page cites the Act at Government Code section 7920.000 and following, which is where the law moved in the 2023 recodification, while some agency pages have not caught up: the State Lands Commission's guidance still cites sections 6250 to 6270, the numbering used before the renumbering. Both describe the same law. A public record is any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public's business, prepared, owned, used or retained by the agency, whatever its physical form, and the definition of writing in section 7920.545 is deliberately exhaustive, reaching handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing, photocopying, transmission by electronic mail or facsimile, and every other means of recording on any tangible thing, so emails, photographs, reports, video and audio all count.
Who may ask is equally broad. Under section 7920.520 a person includes a natural person, a corporation, a partnership, a limited liability company, a firm or an association, and state and local agencies and their officials are entitled to request records on the same basis as anybody else. Two limits run the other way. A request must reasonably describe an identifiable record or records, although where it does not the agency must help the requester make a focused and effective request. And no agency is required to compile data, gather information, perform research, or otherwise create a record that does not exist or is not maintained in the normal course of business. For California records held locally, see the California county pages.
- Ten days to decide: the agency must determine whether it holds disclosable records and tell the requester in writing, which is not the same as producing them.
- Fourteen more: in unusual circumstances the determination can be extended by up to fourteen days, in writing, with reasons and an expected date.
- Fees: the direct cost of duplication only, so electronic copies are often free and paper is around ten cents a page.
- No new records: an agency need not research, compile or create anything that does not already exist in the normal course of business.
Written by SearchSystems.net from California's own systems: the California Secretary of State public records act requests page, the Secretary of State's public records act questions, the California State Lands Commission public records act guidance, the Franchise Tax Board page on the California Public Records Act, the Civil Rights Department guidelines for requesting public records, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
What the ten days actually mean
The clock in the Act is a decision clock. The Secretary of State's questions page describes it exactly: the office will determine within ten days whether the requested records are in its possession and whether they can be disclosed, and will notify the requester in writing of that determination. In unusual circumstances, such as where a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records must be examined, the time for notifying the requester may be extended by fourteen additional days, with written notice stating the reasons and the date a determination is expected, and a denial must state the reasons for it.
The State Lands Commission sets out the same structure and lists what counts as unusual: the need to search for and collect records from field facilities or other offices away from the one processing the request, the need to search for, collect and examine a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records demanded in a single request, and the need for consultation between two or more parts of the agency with a substantial interest in the determination, conducted with all practicable speed.
Where records cannot be provided by the response deadline, the Commission gives an estimate of the time needed to gather and review them. The Franchise Tax Board puts figures on the second stage, saying that after it notifies the requester, or after any duplication fees are paid, whichever is later, it generally begins providing records within 30 days. So the realistic sequence is a written decision inside ten days, occasionally twenty four, and records arriving in the weeks after that depending on volume.
Writing the request so it works
The Act requires a request to reasonably describe an identifiable record, and agencies explain what that means in practice. The State Lands Commission asks for four things: a statement of whether the requester wants to inspect records or receive copies, since either is allowed and a requester may pick records for copying during an inspection; a clear and specific description of the records sought, with dates or a date range, the subject described in adequate detail and document titles or authors where known; the requester's name, address and contact information, which is encouraged rather than required but lets staff resolve ambiguities; and enough context to narrow the search.
It warns that a vague or unnecessarily broad request, such as everything relating to a general subject, will delay the response and produce a larger volume than the requester intended, and that failure to work with staff may lead to a denial on the ground that the public interest is outweighed by the undue burden on the agency. It also records a point requesters rarely know: a verbal request is valid, and while staff may ask for it in writing they cannot require it, so an employee who receives one must document it and process it under the agency's guidelines.
The Civil Rights Department asks for the same specificity in a different register, inviting case numbers and party names where the request concerns a closed case and noting that it generally does not release records from open cases.
Inspection, and the rules in the reading room
Inspection is a right in its own right, not a consolation prize. Records in the Secretary of State's custody are available during normal business hours, with special arrangements made in advance for voluminous records, and anyone inspecting must not destroy, mutilate, deface or alter any record or remove it from the place set aside for inspection, returning everything in the same condition and order on finishing or when asked by staff.
Records can be picked up or viewed in person at the Secretary of State's office in Sacramento, at the State Archives on O Street, or at the Los Angeles office on South Spring Street, depending on where they are held. The State Lands Commission opens for inspection from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays except state holidays, subject to a rule of reason as to time and duration and consistent with the efficient running of its offices, asks requesters to telephone for an appointment, and notes that where public records sit in files that also hold privileged or exempt material it needs time to separate them.
It charges nothing for assembling records for inspection, which is the reason inspection is often the cheapest route to a large file.
What copies cost
Fees under the Act are for duplication, not for the work of finding or reviewing records, and the agency pages show how that works out. The State Lands Commission charges ten cents a page for black and white copies at letter and legal size and fifteen cents a page in colour, describing the fee as covering the direct cost of duplicating, which includes the proportionate cost of running the copier and the time of the person operating it but not retrieval, inspection or handling, and it requires advance payment where a request exceeds 50 pages or $25.
For electronic records it charges the cost of the medium plus the time spent compiling and duplicating, and where it must compile or extract electronic data or carry out programming it may charge its full costs. The Civil Rights Department provides records electronically at no cost, charges ten cents a page plus postage for hard copies, invoices before processing and will not release documents before payment, releases the records within 20 days of receiving payment, and closes a request where payment does not arrive within 30 days of the notice, leaving the requester to start again.
The Secretary of State is subject to two statutory rates instead of the general rule: one dollar for the first page and fifty cents for each page after that for copies of laws, resolutions, records or documents on file under section 12178.1(a), and ten cents a page for campaign statements, contribution and expenditure reports and statements of economic interest under section 81008(a), with electronic copies often provided at no cost and electronic compilations, indexes, extracts or summaries charged at a rate sufficient to recover all costs.
Exemptions, redaction and electronic formats
Records may be withheld where the Act or another law allows it, but the exemption attaches to information rather than to a file: where a record contains exempt information, any reasonably segregable portion must be provided after the exempt part is removed, which is why so many California responses arrive redacted rather than refused. The Franchise Tax Board publishes a partial list of what it withholds, including personnel, medical and similar files for its employees, examination questions and scoring keys, preliminary drafts not retained in the ordinary course, and records concerning pending litigation, and it explains the narrow route by which confidential taxpayer information is released, to an officer or authorised representative of a business entity under the Act or to the individual concerned under the Information Practices Act.
On format, the Civil Rights Department states the general rule plainly: public records in electronic form are released in the format in which they are held, and where a record exists in both electronic and hard copy the requester may choose. The same department repeats the limit every agency relies on, that while existing records are subject to the Act, it is not required to create a new record or a list from an existing one.
Which agency to ask
California has no central records office, so the request goes to the agency that holds the record. The Secretary of State is explicit about the boundary of its own duties, which cover business entity filings, the uniform commercial code, the victims of corporate fraud compensation fund, trademarks and service marks and special filings, notaries and apostilles, elections and the Voter's Choice Act, campaign finance and lobbying, the State Archives, and the registries for domestic partners, Safe at Home and advance health care directives, and it points out that it does not oversee the Department of Motor Vehicles and holds nothing about driver licences or vehicle registration.
It also notes that records of other agencies reach it only where they have been transferred to the State Archives on grounds of age and historical significance. Many records are already published, so the first step for business filings, oaths of office, bond information, uniform commercial code records, political reform filings, domestic partnership records, voting system records and election records is the agency's own online search rather than a formal request.
Questions about public records requests in California
Related California records
California's other public records guides on this site are the California background check guide for the Department of Justice criminal record service, the California court records guide for the trial court case portals, the California arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the California county pages for every county office.