The California Supreme Court will rule by the end of August on a
legal showdown over local governments’ obligation to release names
and salaries of public employees.
Morgan Hill – The California Supreme Court will rule by the end of August on a legal showdown over local governments’ obligation to release names and salaries of public employees.
The court heard arguments May 30 in a case that stems from a 2003 lawsuit filed by the Contra Costa Times against the city of Oakland for refusing to release the names and salaries of every employee earning more than $100,000 a year. An Alameda County judge and a state appellate court have sided with the newspaper.
The Contra Costa Times initiated the court battle for salaries after a 2003 ruling in San Mateo County that gave cities an excuse to withhold salary information from the public. In San Mateo County, Superior Court Judge Rosemary Pfeiffer denied an attempt by the Palo Alto Daily News to obtain salaries from the cities of Atherton, Belmont, Burlingame, San Carlos and San Mateo. The newspaper had previously published the names and salaries of Palo Alto and Menlo Park employees, and wanted to do the same for additional cities.
But unions representing public employees caught wind of the newspaper’s request, and eventually filed a lawsuit to prevent the information from going public.
The Palo Alto Daily News filed a motion to intervene, arguing the California Public Records Act allows the release of such information. Judge Pfeiffer ultimately granted the demands of the unions, who had argued a privacy clause in the state constitution trumped the state law that requires the release of salaries. An appellate court upheld her ruling, and the Palo Alto Daily News settled out of court rather than risking a state Supreme Court appeal that could have backfired on media organizations.
The Contra Costa Times case, however, should settle the issue once and for all, said media lawyer Karl Olson, the attorney fighting the case for the newspaper.
“These are public dollars that are being spent,” said Olson, who last weekend was honored with a Freedom of Information Award at the California Newspaper Publishers Association’s annual convention and awards luncheon in San Francisco. “For the city to say it doesn’t have to disclose names and salaries is basically arguing the city should have a blank check.”
State Supreme Court judges appeared to be leaning in favor of the public’s right to know during the May 30 hearing, according to reports in the San Jose Mercury News and the San Diego Union Tribune.
“I don’t understand what is so personally intrusive about knowing what somebody on the public payroll is earning,” Chief Justice Ronald George said to a lawyer for Oakland police during the hearing, according to the Mercury News. “Doesn’t the public have a right to know?”
If the state Supreme Court rules against the Contra Costa Times, California would be the only state in the country where government salaries are kept secret.
