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The 2026 SDLF District Transparency Certificate of Excellence outlines the essential requirements for special districts to demonstrate their commitment to transparency in governance and operations. It details the necessary training for board members and employees, compliance with the Brown Act,...
2026_SDLF_District-Transparency-Cert-Excellence.pdf
By: @Marcus Detwiler Despite having failed passage last year in the Senate Judiciary Committee, a significant mandate bill opposed by CSDA is once again active and moving forward. Assembly Bill 1337 (Ward) would revise the Information Practices Act of 1977 (IPA) , a comprehensive...
Republished with permission of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore ( www.lcwlegal.com ) By Abigail Choi on April 28, 2026 As California public agencies increasingly experiment with generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) tools like ChatGPT, a critical question is no longer theoretical: are...
By; Abigail Ellerman, Associate, Richards, Watson & Gershon. The California Public Records Act (“CPRA”) does not impose an obligation on a public agency to preserve records it withholds as exempt beyond their otherwise applicable retention period merely because the agency’s justification...
By: @Marcus Detwiler CSDA is looking to survey its members to assess the scope, scale, and impact on special districts and other local agencies to comply with the California Public Records Act (PRA); this effort is in concert with similar efforts being undertaken by fellow local government...
By Beth Ziesenis, Your Nerdy Best Friend and our 2025 General Manager Summit Keynote Speaker By now, you’ve probably seen an AI notetaking bot pop up in one of your online meetings. Maybe it was Otter.ai, Fireflies.ai, or some other bot quietly capturing every word. These tools promise to...
By: @Marcus Detwiler Following the November 2024 General Election, local public agencies, including special districts, should take care to complete legally-required updates to their Registry of Public Agencies filing (also known as Form SF-405 ). Should an agency end up seating new board...
By @Marcus Detwiler On Thursday, November 16, CSDA’s Board of Directors met in Sacramento and adopted “oppose” positions on a pair of ballot initiatives that may appear before California voters on the November 2024 ballot. The two ballot initiatives, numbered 23-0015A1 and 23-0025A1 ...
On February 10, CSDA submitted a letter to the California Supreme Court requesting depublication of the Third District Court of Appeal opinion in Getz v. Superior Court of El Dorado County ( C091337 ). In Getz , the Third District ruled in favor of a public records requester seeking records...
Lead Agencies Must Take Special Care to Retain All Internal Agency Communications By Gregory M. Bergman and Brian J. Bergman, Bergman Dacey Goldsmith On November 10, 2020, the California Supreme Court—in a loss for public agencies throughout the state—denied review and requests for...