HR Management v. County of Contra Costa CA1/5

I. BACKGROUND

Under the Act, “access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state.” (§ 6250.) As a general rule, public records are open to inspection at all times during office hours “and every person has the right to inspect any public record, except as hereafter provided.” (§ 6253, subd. (a).) In addition to specific exemptions set forth in the code, the Act 1 Further statutory references are to the Government Code unless otherwise indicated.

1 contains a catchall provision that allows agencies to “justify withholding any record by demonstrating 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 of the record.” (§ 6255, subd. (a).) In March 2013, the County of Contra Costa (County) issued Request for Proposal No. 1302-004 (RFP) seeking bids to provide employment services to former inmates under the County’s community corrections program. Under the RFP timeline, the deadline for submissions was April 19, the notification of award recommendations would be made May 2, appeals could be…