The Sacramento Bee

10/31/03

Request for key budget data rejected

The Bee sought files from the Davis administration on the effects of cuts.

By John Hill

Gov. Gray Davis' administration has denied a request by The Bee for information detailing the effects of state budget cuts on public services.

The files could include information on how Californians would feel the impact of spending cuts in a vast array of state programs, including fewer offices, reduced hours and curtailed services.

But a lawyer for Davis' Department of Finance states in a letter Tuesday that the documents were used to arrive at decisions and that releasing them would "discourage candid discussion and inhibit the free flow of ideas" among officials.

That "clearly outweighs" the public's interest in learning the contents of the records, wrote Susan Geanacou, senior staff counsel.

Geanacou cited two cases that she said support the department's position that records can be withheld if they are part of the "deliberative process" -- that is, they were used to arrive at a policy or decision.

The documents result from the administration's efforts to comply with a provision in this year's budget calling for $1.1 billion in reductions to state operations. The administration says it will reach this goal with a combination of layoffs, abolishing vacant positions, wage concessions from public employee unions and cancellation of some personnel services contracts.

Departments were required to submit plans to the Department of Finance describing how they would spend less and meet the targets set by the administration. Analysts from the Department of Finance reviewed the plans and made changes.

Most of the plans have been approved.

On Oct. 16, The Bee sent a written request to the Department of Finance under the California Public Records Act. The letter points out that the plans were required to include descriptions of their impact on state services. The Bee asked for any information about those effects on the public.

In its response, the Department of Finance wrote that it plans to send a letter to the Legislature containing information about departments' reduction plans and would make that available to the public.

That letter has not been completed, and it is uncertain whether it will contain the information sought by The Bee.

Terry Francke, general counsel for the California First Amendment Coalition, questioned the administration's argument that the records are "pre-decisional," or part of an internal give-and-take leading up to an action.

"It isn't as if this is hanging fire," Francke said. "It's being implemented now. At one time it may have been pre-decisional, but the decision has been made. It is the only record."

If officials made verbal changes to the plans, Francke said, "they're free to explain that."

Francke said the public has an obvious interest in learning what is in the records.

"What better X-ray on the terrible damage done by the deficit than the government assessment of what it takes to pull in the belt?" he asked.

Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he wants to make government more open to public scrutiny.

Schwarzenegger spokesman H.D. Palmer declined to comment on the specifics of the Davis administration's response to The Bee's request. But he reiterated the incoming governor's support for making access to public records part of the state constitution and extending the law's reach into the Legislature and the executive branch.