Existing law establishes various protections for California Native American tribes, including prohibiting a public agency or private party using or occupying public property or operating on public property from interfering with the free expression or exercise of Native American religion as provided in the United States Constitution and the California Constitution. Existing law also requires a local government to provide formal notification to each California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the project site as an invitation to consult on the proposed project, as provided. Existing law requires the local government, during the consultation, to give deference to the tribal information, tribal knowledge and customs, and the significance of the resource to the California Native American tribe. Existing law prohibits any information, as described, that is submitted by a California Native American tribe during the environmental review process from being included in the environmental document or otherwise disclosed by the lead agency or any other public agency to the public, as specified, without the prior consent of the tribe that provided the information.

Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires each state and local agency, as defined, to make its records open to public inspection at all times during office hours, except as specifically exempted from disclosure by law. The act specifically exempts from disclosure records that are exempted or prohibited from disclosure by federal or state law and lists records subject to that exemption, specifying that the listed exemptions are not inclusive of all exemptions under the act.

This bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.