Orange County Heritage Coordinating Council

I received the following email of interest on Wednesday, from an HCC colleage:
 
Dear HCC members,
 
Some of you may already be aware of the pending replevin legislation related to public records known as AB 2595, which is making its way through the California legislature. It passed in the House and will be up for a vote in the Senate soon. You can learn more about the legislation by entering AB 2595 under "Bill Search" at http://www.legislature.ca.gov/.
 
AB 2595 is concerned with unlawful possession of public records, preserving public records, and making them available to the public. Although the California Public Records Act (Government Code section 6250) holds that "access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state," the state lacks a law allowing governmental agencies to recover public records removed from public custody. An increasing number of government documents are appearing for sale through online auctions such as eBay; when these documents are in private hands, they are no longer available to the public.
 
Since several members of the HCC group work in institutions which have custody of and care for public records, there may be some of you who wish to contact your state senator and urge him to support AB 2595. For Orange County residents, your representative may be:
 
- Dick Ackerman: District 33 (http://cssrc.us/web/33/)
- Lou Correa: District 34 (http://dist34.casen.govoffice.com/)
- Tom Harmon: District 35 (http://cssrc.us/web/35/)
 
I will be out of town when HCC next meets in September; I hope to see you all at the November meeting.
 
Regards, Jennifer
Jennifer Martinez Wormser, Archivist
Sherman Library and Gardens