San Francisco Pushing for More Government Secrecy -- Yes, Again

Smile! You're on street-sweeper camera!

​Last month, SF Weekly reported how government transparency advocates raised red flags when the city of San Francisco was accused of pulling off a dubious trifecta: 1. Using city money to; 2. lobby for state laws restricting public access to government data; and 3. failing to disclose this via mandated lobbying reports.

Now it seems the city is pushing for even more government secrecy. Here's the backstory.

Our July article was about how San Francisco had lobbied for a 2007 state law that allowed city Muni buses to be fitted with front-facing cameras that can snap photos of those who double-park in bus zones or commit other traffic violations. The problem is that the text of that law -- AB 101 -- explicitly stated that whatever images those cameras capture is not subject to the California Public Records Act, and cannot be reviewed by activists, journalists, or anyone else. Essentially, San Francisco spent public money lobbying for a state law that limited the public's access to government data. Now it appears it's happened again.

Assembly Bill 1336 piggybacks off AB 101 -- but has ramifications for the whole state, not just San Francisco. Authored by Assemblyman Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park), the bill proposes taking the cameras authorized on San Francisco buses and placing them on street-cleaning vehicles in any California city so as to bust cars parked in sweeping zones.

And, just as is the case in AB 101, the text of this law claims that whatever images those cameras capture is not subject to the California Public Records Act; the general public would not be privy to this data. Interestingly, the city of San Francisco -- as well as Los Angeles and San Diego -- are listed as official "supporters."

It is unclear at this time if San Francisco expended public money to lobby for this bill -- which would be problematic. But, either way, government transparency advocates are troubled by the content of AB 1336.

"This is evidence which the public would never get to see. You can see any other kind of evidence introduced in a court proceeding," said Terry Francke, general counsel of the open government group CalAware. "This treats parking violations as some esoteric exception to the rule."