Use of personal email accounts for government business

see our story update 3-29-11 at bottom of this post

We reprint the story below from the Washinton Post to again put all public officials on notice that using a "personal email" account for official government communications subjects the entire contents of the email account to public records act requests. We went through this before with the Karl Rove camp using @RNC (republican national committee) email addresses for official government email as a way of subverting public records requests. We have brought this issue to the attention to the Lakewood City Council numerous times yet all five still use their personal email accounts and not accounts @lakewoodcity.org. So we wait until this blows up in their face much like it did for poor little Sarah Palin, who only a few months ago was herself a lowly city council member. We also brought up to to the city council a number of times that they did not post ANY email addresses on the city website for citizens to contact them directly. We feel the reason for this is much like Bush, Cheney and McCain who don't use email simply because they want no paper trial of any of their activities. The fewer Lakewood residents that email the council about issues the better. That way there is no trace of the issue, the date, or the response or lack thereof. Then like most politicians, when the the problem blows up they can say they never knew about it (and you have no way of proving it)

All the Palin email was posted at Wikileaks.org and that site was overloaded all evening. Apparently the news media is pouring over it or the secret service is trying to take it down. Gawker had some posted.

Once again Lakewood City Council, you are on notice that this practice is wrong and needs to stop. Oh and for those that dont have the councils "non official" (and only) email addresses here they are:

Todd Rogers -- tsrr@msn.com
Joe Esquivel -- bayoujo@aol.com
Larry Van Nostran -- oldeacon@aol.com
Steve Croft -- stacro@aol.com
Diane DuBois -- diane4citycncil@aol.com

Hackers Access Palin's Personal E-Mail, Post Some Online

By Michael D. Shear and Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 18, 2008; A04

A group of computer hackers said yesterday that they had accessed a Yahoo e-mail account of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, publishing some of her private communications to expose what appeared to be her use of a personal account for government business.

The hackers posted what they said were personal photos, the contents of several messages, the subject lines of dozens of e-mails and Palin's e-mail contact list on a site called Wikileaks.org. That site said it received the electronic files from a group identifying itself only as "Anonymous."

"At around midnight last night some members affiliated with the group gained access to governor Palin's email account, 'gov.palin@yahoo.com' and handed over the contents to the government sunshine site Wikileaks.org," said a message on the site.

Rick Davis, the campaign manager for Republican presidential nominee John McCain, issued a statement yesterday afternoon condemning the incident.

"This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law," he said. "The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."

The episode focuses attention on Palin's use of her personal e-mail account as lawmakers in Alaska look into whether she fired the state's public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan, because he refused to take action against her brother-in-law, a state trooper at the time.

Palin has been criticized in recent days for using a personal e-mail account to conduct state business. An Alaska activist has filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking disclosure of e-mails from another Yahoo account Palin used, gov.sarah@yahoo.com.

That account appears to have been linked to the one that was hacked.

Both accounts appear to have been deactivated. E-mails sent to them yesterday were returned as undeliverable.

Andrée McLeod, who filed the FOIA request, said yesterday evening that Palin should have known better than to conduct state business using an unsecured e-mail account.

"If this woman is so careless as to conduct state business on a private e-mail account that has been hacked into, what in the world is she going to do when she has access to information that is vital to our national security interests?" she asked.

McLeod's Anchorage attorney, Donald C. Mitchell, said Palin declined to comply with a public records request in June to divulge 1,100 e-mails sent to and from her personal accounts, citing executive privilege.

"There's a reason the governor should be using her own official e-mail channels, because of security and encryption," the attorney said. "She's running state business out of Yahoo?"

McCain officials did not return calls and e-mails seeking further comment on the hacking and McLeod's remarks.

The images of the Yahoo inbox posted by hackers are stippled with the names of Palin aides using both official and private e-mail addresses.

Among the e-mails released as part of the records request in June were several from Ivy Frye, an aide, asking a state official whether private e-mail accounts and messages sent to BlackBerry devices are immune to subpoena, then reporting the answer to the governor and her husband, Todd, who also uses a Yahoo e-mail address.

One referenced "Draft letter to Governor Schwarzenegger/Container Tax" and another said "DPS Personnel and Budget Issues," an apparent reference to the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

Michael Allison, chief executive of the Internet Crimes Group, a private company specializing in Internet security, said the hackers may have accessed Palin's account by using publicly available information to guess her password, or by using a small program called a trojan to capture her keystrokes.

"I would hope the authorities would be all over this," Allison said. "The only deterrent is that people know the certainty of being caught."

Government Uses Commercial Email and Texting to Avoid FOIA Laws
Read More: Democracy, Disclosure, Email, Foia, Texting, Transparency, Twitter, Politics News
Peter Scheer
lawyer, writer and advocate for 1st Amendment rights
Posted: August 22, 2009 01:27 AM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-scheer/government-uses-commercia_b_265809.html

All public officials favor open government in principle. Who would dare say otherwise? In reality, however, they are in a perpetual search, guided by clever lawyers, for new ways to circumvent disclosure requirements--at best, because they view requests for records as a nuisance, and at worst, because they have something to hide (which can range from the merely embarrassing to the indictable).

The latest device for openness avoidance is the use of personal email accounts (and, increasingly, text messaging too) for government communications. Mayors, city council members, agency executives and school superintendents have been told that if they do government business on their gmail or yahoo accounts--anything but their official .gov email--their communications, no matter how focused on government matters, will never see the light of day.

What do your elected representatives do when they believe that their messages about government business are secret? In San Jose, city council members, like proverbial puppets on a string, take instructions during council meetings on how to vote, according to a San Jose Mercury News report on text messages sent by representatives of unions and other special interests.

The former San Bernardino County Assessor, who was arrested on drug charges and is under grand jury investigation, used electronic messaging on personal cell phones to direct his staff in partisan political activities, according to a report of an independent investigation commissioned by the county. The investigators found that the assessor and his staff had chosen this means of communicating in order to avoid creating public records.

You don’t have to be a legal scholar to appreciate the size of the loophole that this practice creates. If all it takes to avoid the obligations of the Public Records Act, California’s freedom of information law, is to use a commercial email account for official communications, then all such communications--except the occasional anodyne and self-serving message actually intended for public consumption--will shift to that private channel. The Public Records Act, already porous with special interest loopholes, might as well be renamed the California Official Secrets Act.

Lawyers for local government say that email and text messages sent or received on a private account, no matter their content, are not “public records” because they are not “. . . owned, used, or retained by” a government agency, as the Public Records Act requires. Electronic communications are “owned, used, or retained by” government only if they reside on a government server, they say. Despite the superficial plausibility of this reasoning, it is, indeed, only superficially plausible.

A government agency doesn’t do anything except through people--employees, elected officials, consultants, whatever--who are the government’s agents. Without getting too deep into legalese here, the point is that the actions of the government’s agents are imputed to the government, and the government is responsible for those actions. An arrest by a police officer, a mayor’s promise to a campaign contributor, a public school teacher’s grading of a student paper--all are actions of and by the government entity that these people represent.

The same is true for written communications about government matters that these people create or receive, regardless of the technology used or the account status. The communications are “owned,” “used” and “retained” by government because they are owned, used and retained by persons in their capacity as agents of the government.

Here’s an analogy. Suppose the mayor of your town, at a private meeting in her private home, signs a written agreement with a contractor to expand the local airport. The agreement is a paper document in the mayor’s house, miles away from her office at city hall. There is no doubt that this document is a public record that belongs to the town because it is “owned,” “used” and “retained” by the mayor as the town’s agent. Nothing changes if the document sits, not on the mayor’s kitchen table, but in the digital in-box of her personal email account at msn.com. Either way, it’s indisputably a public record that belongs to the town.

Finally, the objection is made that a search through a government official’s commercial email account for requested public records is overly intrusive. But any intrusiveness is due to the official’s choice to mix his personal email messages with his emails about government business. The remedy is not to deny citizens their access rights, but for government to adopt email use and retention policies that mitigate, if not eliminate, the problem.

What policies? Consider this proposal:

1) Agencies and local governments should set up one email account with gobs of storage capacity. To keep it simple and inexpensive, a corporate account (offering extra security) with Google or Yahoo will suffice.

2) Agencies’ .gov email accounts, by default, should “bcc” all emails to the government database account.

3) All government employees should be instructed that, when using their own commercial email account for government matters, they must “bcc” their business messages to the database account (and forward incoming business email there too). Basically, any email that is not strictly personal should be copied to the online storage account.

These three simple steps produce a comprehensive government database that provides the agency with a valuable archival resource; allows for consistent application of document retention policies; and, perhaps most important, is fully searchable using search engine technology with which all employees are familiar. Any public records requests for email can be quickly and simply processed through searches of the archive. (No IT personnel are needed!)

Many elected representatives have become proficient at using technology to thwart public access to government. Why not, instead, use technology to enhance the transparency and accountability of government?
----
Peter Scheer, a lawyer and journalist, is executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition, based in San Rafael, CA. http://www.cfac.org


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

California headed over a cliff

People used to joke about California falling into the ocean after the "big" earthquake. Well given what has happened on Wall St. this last week and given our unprecedented late budget, California may fall into the ocean all right. An ocean of debt. Tom McClintock, who is termed out this year and is running for congress sadly summed up California's predicament at the conclusion of the budget process on September 15-16 (11 weeks beyond the Constitutional deadline of July 1...but hey that's just the state constitution...its meaningless). We felt this needed to be aired as surely the mainstream press will not cover this as it needs to be covered:

Sen. McClintock: "I believe we've now also passed the point where conventional budget reductions can restore our state's finances. I believe we've reached a terminal stage of a bureaucratic state where our bureaucracies have become so large and so tangled that they can no longer perform basic functions. This fiscal crisis will now only get worse until we are willing to tell the Prison Guards Union, sorry but we're putting our wardens back in charge of our prisons. It can only get worse until we're willing to tell the Teachers Union, sorry but we're putting our teachers back in charge of their classrooms and we're putting our principals back in charge of our teachers. The bureaucratization, and the centralization and the unionization of our service delivery systems have simply priced our government beyond our economy's ability to support...

...I close my 22 years in this legislature tonight with this final warning. California's budget crisis will only worsen until the public elects a legislature and a Governor willing to restore the governing principles and practices under which this state once flourished, or until the credit market finally stops lending the state money..."

When McClintock concluded his statement there was utter silence from the Legislature. Not one democrat or republican said anything in opposition.

So is California headed the way of Vallejo and Lehman Brothers? I guess we will know next time this year.

For the remainder of McClintock's budget statement read below:

http://republican.sen.ca.gov/web/mcclintock/article_detail.asp?PID=346
Debate on the State Budget
Senator Tom McClintock
Date: August 29, 2008
Publication Type: Press Release

Mr. President:

Last year, when some in this chamber assured us that the budget was not only balanced, but included the biggest budget reserve in the state’s history, others of us issued an urgent warning that the budget was dangerously unbalanced and that we were fast running out of the time needed to implement reforms.

The State Controller reports that during last year we received $96 billion in revenues – a new record -- but spent $107 billion. And now we’re running out of money.

I am concerned that conventional budget reductions alone will no longer bridge the fiscal gap without severely impacting delivery of vital services.

We have centralized and unionized and bureaucratized our service delivery systems to the point they can no longer adequately perform the basic tasks for which they were designed.

Simply stated, we have created a bureaucracy we cannot afford.

We cannot afford spending 1/3 of a million dollars per classroom when only a fraction of that actually trickles into the classroom to educate our kids.

We cannot afford spending $42,000 to house a prisoner when Florida does it for $18,000 and the federal government for $26,000.

We are going to have to clear away the massive bureaucracy in our public schools that does nothing to educate our children and instead put teachers back in charge of their classrooms, put principals back in charge of their teachers – including the authority to hire and fire -- and put parents back in charge of their principals through their local school boards.

We are going to have to rescind the sweetheart labor contracts in our prisons, restoring management authority to the wardens and contracting out at least 50,000 prison beds.

We are going to have to replace the massive bureaucracy in our health system with a simple prepaid refundable tax credit to bring within the reach of every family a basic health plan of their selection.

This is the only way we are going to be able to maintain vital services without bankrupting the state. But if the consensus does not exist to enact conventional budget reductions, it certainly doesn’t exist to enact a fundamental restructuring.

During my 22 years in this legislature, I and others have laid out all these proposals, but they have fallen on deaf ears. There is some bitter irony in the fact that those who have voted against these proposals year after year accuse Republicans of not offering alternatives when that is all we have done year after year. But at some point very soon, these reforms, or others like them, will have to be enacted.

Senator Ducheny tells us that the budget before us is a baseline budget; that it merely continues business as usual. The problem is that business as usual produced $11 billion of red ink and we cannot afford to do so again.

Nor can I agree that the path to fiscal recovery is through taking the highest sales tax in the nation and raising it still higher with the second biggest tax increase in the state’s history. In that respect, I agree with Barak Obama who last night said: “In an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.” And yet that’s the first thing this budget does.

I was here in 1991, and I warn you that raising the sales tax did not improve our finances – it made them worse.

The census bureau reports that in the last two years, a half million more people have moved out of California than have moved in. The historic migration FROM Oklahoma and Arkansas TO California in the 1930’s has now reversed itself in an historic outmigration of Californians TO those states with lower taxes and vastly less burdensome regulations (including Oklahoma and Arkansas). The difference is that the dust-bowl migration was caused by an act of God – the new migration is caused by acts of government – OUR government.

Those acts are fully within our power to reverse – but that will mean reversing the policies that have wrecked the once Golden State of California.

I would conclude with an observation on process. It is good that for the first time since the budget deadline we finally have a formal budget proposal on the Senate floor to begin deliberations. But it is unfortunate that this did not arrive on our floor in May. And it should have stayed on this floor day after day until it cleared the 27 votes needed to send it to a conference committee.

So I would ask those of you who voted to send an empty budget bill directly to the conference committee earlier this year to contemplate the damage that was done by bypassing the entire legislative process. And I would express the hope that the next session of the Senate finally return to the traditions and procedures that served this state so well for many, many decades and that produced relatively balanced and relatively punctual state budgets.


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Remember this little gem from 2002? You will now..

Like it or not property taxes will go up in LA county this year due to a little remembered Measure B passed in Nov. 2002 that basically gave the County Board of Supervisors a blank check and a way to bypass Proposition 13's limits on property taxes. When will the voters learn? These cute little measures passed in good times (using the typical scare tactic ads that ER care will dry up if you dont pass it) come back to haunt voters years later when they can least afford it. Well voters, the next time you pass a measure like this, think ahead a few years. And remember its not the cost to the taxpayers that is the real rub...its the waste of tax dollars built into the system that is the problem. To read the arguments pro and con on the 2002 Measure B (to refresh your recollection) click here

EGP News Service
http://www.egpnews.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=browse&id=%3C!id!%3E&pageid=1270

Property taxes in Los Angeles County were raised last Tuesday, Aug. 12 in an effort to bail out the Department of Health Services.

The county Board of Supervisors approved the increase of Measure B taxes by 0.0072 cents per square foot of improved property to raise an estimated $45.2 million annually, which will be used to help alleviate the department’s massive budget deficit.

Supervisor Michael Antonovich cast the sole dissenting vote, though Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Don Knabe both expressed frustration that the department’s request for more tax money was not accompanied by a plan for eliminating its structural deficit.

“To me this just represents a shell game. It’s not really dealing with the systemic issues with the department,” Knabe said. “You still have not given us a deficit management plan.”

Health Services faces a budget deficit of $93.7 million over the coming fiscal year, which is projected to balloon to $484.9 million the following year due to federal and state funding cuts as well as expected rollover of debt, according to a DHS memo.

“I think Supervisor Knabe’s frustration is shared to one extent or another by all of us, but that doesn’t change... the fact that in a global sense, something needs to be done,” Yaroslavsky said. “We need this now. We need this in this fiscal year.”

Faced with the possibility that two of the four county-run hospitals might have to close their doors, Measure B was approved by voters in 2002 to raise funds for the county’s beleaguered health care network.

Measure B previously taxed improved property at a rate of 0.03 cents per square foot, generating $142 million annually, according to a report from county Chief Executive Officer William Fujioka.

With the tax hike, the owner of a 1,500-square-foot home or business will wind up paying $10.80 more annually, or $55.80 total per year.

Non-reimbursed trauma and emergency costs at county hospitals have increased about 11 percent annually--totaling $103.3 million--since 2003. Continual funding shortfalls have been plugged with one-time funding allocations that have since dried up, leaving a structural deficit in their wake, Fujioka said.

County officials will direct $36.8 million of the money generated annually through the tax hike to offset the costs of unreimbursed trauma and emergency services, with the remaining $8.4 million to be devoted to non-county trauma hospitals and bioterrorism preparedness.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Likely Homicide near South St. and Woodruff St.

You can bet we will not hear anymore on this from LASD (Lakewood Sheriffs). They tend to sweep things like this under the rug. No details on if the body was in a house or just on the street. But if being investigated by homicide detectives I think it is likely that it is an obvious homicide. The 5900 block of Edgefield Street is right next to the intersection of Woodruff St. and South St. This is the LASD press release


Aug 11, 2008 4:45 am US/Pacific
Woman's Body Found In Lakewood
LAKEWOOD, Calif. (CBS) ― The death of a woman whose body was found in Lakewood was being investigated today by homicide detectives, a sheriff's deputy said.

The woman's body was discovered in the 5900 block of Edgefield Street,
near Woodruff Avenue, about 6:15 p.m. Sunday, said Deputy Byron Ward of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.

No further details were immediately available, he said.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

Are there any more tax or budget "tricks" left?

The true scope of the recession is now becoming clear. The recession in the so called "private sector" is finally starting to hit home in the public sector. Here come the tax increases. And new taxes in areas or on items you have not seen before. You see while people in the private sector and at home learn to do with less, the little piggies in the public sector can't as they have never learned how to do that. Every year must bring new ("well deserved") raises, more pension goodies and more perks like cars and blackberries. Well its going to be really hard to "sell" these new state and local tax increases to people in the private sector now netting less money (due to inflation, energy and food prices, and home devaluations). The private sector is saying "Hey why should we be financing you fat government cats when we dont get the same". Good question. I guess it finally will be the sour economy that gets the taxpayers to stop swallowing the BS. Quite frankly I could do with less government "social" programs at the state and local level. Use what money you have for infrastructure. And lets cut way back on the billion wasted on forest fires. As you have surely read from the latest news posts on this we are pouring money down the fire department "overtime rathole" when it some to fighting the wildland fires that are not endangering homes.


August 2, 2008

State, local governments flirt with fiscal disaster as budgets grow bigger

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080802/OPINION11/808020312/1004/OPINION

State and local governments in this country seem to be running out of budgetary tricks.

In June Delaware's General Assembly had to swallow hard and cut deep into the state budget.

In California this week, Gov. Schwarzenegger escalated his fiscal battle with the Democratic Legislature by cutting the pay of 200,000 state employees. In New York, Gov. Paterson called the state's revenue situation dire, asked for federal help and suggested privatizing the New York City subway.

The economic slowdown is hurting revenues. In addition, expenses at the state and local levels are mounting across the country.

USA Today estimated on Friday that state and local governments are likely to spend $3 trillion in 2008. That's about 13 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

On top of that, many state and local governments are in hock for pension and post-employment health benefits they have promised an ever-growing number of public employees. In addition, every state has seen mounting costs for the state share of Medicaid health and nursing costs.

The federal General Accountability Office warned earlier this year that those bills will come due within 10 years as the employees begin retiring in large numbers and more older citizens need long-term care paid for by Medicaid.

The scramble is on for extra sources of revenue. And that's where the tricks are starting to miss. Maryland, for example, just raised its tax on cigarettes by $1 a pack. But so many people have simply stopped smoking that despite the tax increase the state will be short $40 million t0 $60 million in revenue this year.

The rise in gasoline prices forced Americans to cut driving so much that the Highway Trust Fund is near bankruptcy. Fewer driven miles translates into fewer dollars collected from gasoline taxes. The downturn in the financial markets is crippling New York's economy and reducing revenues in every state, including Delaware, that depends on the credit industry for revenue.

The housing slump has cut revenue from real estate transfer taxes. Likewise, the high cost of gasoline and the shaky economy have depressed the market for cars. That, in turn, means fewer autoworkers.

Help from the federal government is likely to be limited. Just this week it was announced that the 2009 budget deficit will be $482 billion. That is beginning to worry a lot of investors.

Some of these developments may turn out to be temporary. But others won't. The long-term outlook, at least, calls for an end to tinkering with budget. Cuts are in order. So are better management and, unfortunately, increased fees and taxes where appropriate.

Most of all, the tricks must stop.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

click here to receive LAAG posts by email

graffiti "community service" bill

This law sounds good. First problem. You have to have police catch someone and that has to hold up in court. I want to know how many successful graffiti prosecutions LASD has prosecuted on the San Gabriel River or in the city of Lakewood in the past year. I am going to take a shot at none. And as the LASD and city of Lakewood reads this blog regularly we challenge them to prove us wrong. They send the stats we will post them.

The law (on the surface) is a common sense measure which ones does not usually see out of the legislature. Of course how do you really make a graffiti artist clean up the area for a year? You don't. Also the press release makes it sound like the "clean up" sentencing is mandatory, until you read the "weasel words" the legislature put in the bill to make sue some bleeding heart liberal judge can still let the defendant off. Really this sounds like nothing more than a press release event (to attempt to show how "hard working" our legislature is) rather than a real enforcement or punishment tool. I cant wait to see how often this is used. I suppose next the ACLU will challenge it as "cruel and unusual punishment" for "artists" and that what we need is more taxpayer funded "afterschool programs" to "channel their talent".

We found the law interesting due to the rise of graffiti in Lakewood and the San Gabriel River. Looks like we got our hopes up for nothing.

PRESS RELEASE

07/30/2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Graffiti Vandalism Legislation

Continuing his commitment to public safety, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed legislation to hold offenders accountable for crimes of vandalism and to remove graffiti from California's streets and neighborhoods. AB 1767 by Assemblymember Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) mandates community service for a person who has committed a criminal act of graffiti vandalism, and AB 2609 by Assemblymember Mike Davis (D-Los Angeles) requires defendants convicted of graffiti vandalism to clean up or repair the defaced or damaged property.

"As Governor, I have made the safety of our communities my top priority," Governor Schwarzenegger said. "By cleaning up graffiti and holding offenders accountable for their actions, this legislation will make our streets and neighborhoods a safer and cleaner place to live."

AB 1767 authorizes the courts in San Francisco to launch a pilot program where violators of graffiti vandalism are ordered to participate in a minimum of 24 hours of community service, when available, if they have reached a civil compromise with the victim. This law targets graffiti abatement service programs as the community service outlet for offenders and remains in effect until January 1, 2012.

Similarly, AB 2609 requires the court to order offenders paroled for a graffiti violation to clean up, repair or replace the damaged property. Defendants would also be required keep the damaged property or another specified property in the community free of graffiti for up to one year.


BILL NUMBER: AB 2609 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT

CHAPTER 209
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JULY 30, 2008
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JULY 30, 2008
PASSED THE SENATE JULY 3, 2008
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JULY 14, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 10, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 17, 2008

INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Davis
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Anderson and Solorio)

FEBRUARY 22, 2008

An act to amend Section 594 of the Penal Code, relating to
vandalism.



LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2609, Davis. Vandalism: penalties: community service.
Existing law, amended by Proposition 21, an initiative measure
enacted by voters at the March 7, 2000, statewide primary election,
and requiring a 2/3 vote of the Legislature to amend, makes a person
who maliciously commits specified destructive acts with respect to
another's property guilty of vandalism. Existing law grants the court
the authority to order a defendant who is convicted of violating
this provision, or to order the defendant and his or her parents, if
the defendant is a minor, to clean up, repair, or replace the damaged
property or keep the damaged property or another specified property
in the community free of graffiti for up to one year.
This bill would, in addition, require a court, when appropriate
and feasible, to impose the above cleanup penalties for any defendant
who was convicted of violating those vandalism provisions, as
specified. By increasing the penalties for a crime, the bill would
impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Section 594 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
594. (a) Every person who maliciously commits any of the
following acts with respect to any real or personal property not his
or her own, in cases other than those specified by state law, is
guilty of vandalism:
(1) Defaces with graffiti or other inscribed material.
(2) Damages.
(3) Destroys.
Whenever a person violates this subdivision with respect to real
property, vehicles, signs, fixtures, furnishings, or property
belonging to any public entity, as defined by Section 811.2 of the
Government Code, or the federal government, it shall be a permissive
inference that the person neither owned the property nor had the
permission of the owner to deface, damage, or destroy the property.
(b) (1) If the amount of defacement, damage, or destruction is
four hundred dollars ($400) or more, vandalism is punishable by
imprisonment in the state prison or in a county jail not exceeding
one year, or by a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars
($10,000), or if the amount of defacement, damage, or destruction is
ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more, by a fine of not more than
fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), or by both that fine and
imprisonment.
(2) (A) If the amount of defacement, damage, or destruction is
less than four hundred dollars ($400), vandalism is punishable by
imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine of
not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that fine
and imprisonment.
(B) If the amount of defacement, damage, or destruction is less
than four hundred dollars ($400), and the defendant has been
previously convicted of vandalism or affixing graffiti or other
inscribed material under Section 594, 594.3, 594.4, 640.5, 640.6, or
640.7, vandalism is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for
not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than five thousand
dollars ($5,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(c) Upon conviction of any person under this section for acts of
vandalism consisting of defacing property with graffiti or other
inscribed materials, the court shall, when appropriate and feasible,
in addition to any punishment imposed under subdivision (b), order
the defendant to clean up, repair, or replace the damaged property
himself or herself, or order the defendant, and his or her parents or
guardians if the defendant is a minor, to keep the damaged property
or another specified property in the community free of graffiti for
up to one year. Participation of a parent or guardian is not required
under this subdivision if the court deems this participation to be
detrimental to the defendant, or if the parent or guardian is a
single parent who must care for young children. If the court finds
that graffiti cleanup is inappropriate, the court shall consider
other types of community service, where feasible.
(d) If a minor is personally unable to pay a fine levied for acts
prohibited by this section, the parent of that minor shall be liable
for payment of the fine. A court may waive payment of the fine, or
any part thereof, by the parent upon a finding of good cause.
(e) As used in this section, the term "graffiti or other inscribed
material" includes any unauthorized inscription, word, figure, mark,
or design, that is written, marked, etched, scratched, drawn, or
painted on real or personal property.
(f) The court may order any person ordered to perform community
service or graffiti removal pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision
(c) to undergo counseling.
(g) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2002.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™<b>r>
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Fireworks for Firefighers...now we have heard it all

When are the pyros going to stop? The article below from West Virginia actually contemplates shoring up sagging pensions funds for firefighters (which are already too high in CA) with the sales of currently illegal fireworks! Hey is you cant get taxpayers to do get the lobbiests to fund it peddling fire! This is too much. The legislators must be breathing in too much fireworks smoke and it has affected their thinking. When you read further you will see that the fireworks industry rakes in $900 million nationally per YEAR. (So maybe its just the effects of the fireworks money on the legislators)...All that pollution and California is just regulating leaf blowers and fireplaces for air quality? Also does anyone see just a little irony in using fire starting fireworks to fund the pensions of firemen? So we start more fires due to all the firework sales, then have to hire more fireman, then have to sell even more fireworks to fund their over bloated pensions. This creates a never ending cycle. Perhaps we should use drug sales to fund police departments (oh wait we already do with asset forfeitures...sorry what were we thinking).

Government never ceases to amaze me with stupidity. As former Senator Fritz Hollings said last week in an interview with Bill Moyers to promote his new book (Making Government Work)...the lobbyists on K street write the legislation as the legislators are too busy trying to go to fundraisers with lobbyists to raise money for re-election. There are two rules in politics: 1. get elected. 2. Get re-elected. Looks like the 900 million from the fireworks industry is being put to good use in the West Virginia legislature.


Published: July 26, 2008
Fireworks for firefighters?

Lawmakers look at source to provide revenue for pension fund
By Mannix Porterfield
Register-Herald Reporter
http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_208230000.html

Fireworks are a thing of majestic beauty and scientific marvel in the eyes of one beholder.

In the minds of some lawmakers, they could also provide a source of revenue to underwrite a pension fund for West Virginia’s volunteer firefighters, providing the beleaguered departments an incentive to attract fresh recruits and retain them.

Before the year is out, Select Committee F expects to hear retired Dow Chemical engineer Clifford Rotz explain how the state can benefit financially from legalizing fireworks.

For now, under state law, only the wimpy variety are kosher — the innocuous sparklers and the like.

The kind that shower the night skies with a burst of colors and loud noises — the rockets, Roman candles and firecrackers — remain illegal.

Rotz worked with Sens. Billy Wayne Bailey, D-Wyoming, Shirley Love, D-Fayette, and Ron Stollings, D-Boone, last winter on a failed bill that would let ordinary citizens buy and set off the so-called “explosive” fireworks, but the legislation never reached the Senate floor for a vote.

“I have no financial interest,” Rotz said. “I have just a personal interest. I’ve loved fireworks since I was kid growing up in Minnesota. My interest in fireworks and rocketry as a kid led me to study chemistry and science and ultimately to getting degrees in chemistry and physics at the University of Minnesota.”

After his master’s work in chemical engineering at Iowa State University, he moved to Charleston and began working for the former Union Carbide in 1981.

The Dunbar resident then began to share an affinity his colleagues hold for fireworks.

“Fireworks are, of course, a wonderful mixture of science, chemistry, art and beauty,” he said.

“One of my degrees is in chemistry. I enjoy studying the chemistry of how they work and seeing how different chemicals go into your different effects and colors, producing the effects they’re supposed to. I think it’s just kind of a bottom line, a kind of gut-level thing, where I think various people in the pyrotechnics field internationally love fireworks because there are so many different facets that are of interest, regardless of what your personal interests are in life.”

What the Big Bang theory holds forth in the Legislature is that several million dollars are there to be realized, allowing for creation of a pension fund for volunteer firefighters at a time the departments are struggling to keep their stations open for business. Rising fuel costs, workers’ compensation premiums and a difficult economy which compels many volunteers to hold down two jobs are taking their toll.

West Virginia has but 11 paid departments, and the 424 volunteer units have become a source of special legislative attention this year.

A full range of fireworks is legal in 18 states, but only a decade ago did West Virginia even permit the less threatening variety.

Firecrackers, if legalized, could contain no more than 50 milligrams of powder as approved by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

“A common aspirin tablet is 325 mgs, so the amount of powder in a firecracker is one-sixth of that inside an aspirin tablet,” Rotz said.

Decades ago, Rotz pointed out, states began outlawing fireworks in response to the carnage, at a time when no federal controls existed.

“Things like the M-80s and even bigger explosives were allowed, and a lot of kids were getting hurt,” Rotz said.

Consequently, rather than approach the issue from a selective basis, the tendency was to make all such fireworks illegal.

“Now, with the CPSC, we don’t have to ban all of them,” he said.

“There’s been a trend in this country over the past 30 years or so to actually re-legalize fireworks.”

Rotz is a member of Fireworks Alliance, which seeks to maintain a legal status for the devices, and Pyrotechnics Guild International. (wait I thought Rotz said he has no financial interest..LAAG) The latter meets annually, attracting thousands from across the nation — professionals, amateurs, businesses and the academics.

“There is a literature of fireworks as a rich heritage that goes back hundreds and hundreds of years,” Rotz said.

“People even collect rare books.”

From the standpoint of money — one that catches any politician’s eye — Rotz says that in 2006 fireworks amounted to a $900 million industry nationally.

Broken down, that amounted to 26.2 million pounds marketed to professional pyrotechnics and 252 million pounds to amateurs. (wow that is a big difference; LAAG) Using those figures, that means about $815 million worth were snapped up by individuals. Rotz considered the rural nature of West Virginia, where fireworks tend to be more popular than in suburban locales of other states, and figured this state could witness some $12.6 million in sales.

Imposition of a special, 10 percent fireworks safety fee could translate into some $1.26 million that could be applied to a firefighters pension account, which Rotz considers “a very, very noble” idea.

Rotz isn’t sure when he is to appear before Select Committee F, but one panelist, Sen. Mike Green, D-Raleigh, while not sold on the idea of legalized fireworks, intends to invite him.

“I’m still up in the air,” Green said.

“I’m not sure I’m a proponent of legalizing those fireworks. His take is that people are going up into Marietta, Ohio, and different places and bringing them in. There’s no oversight. I just don’t know what the public outcry or response would be for legalizing those things. But it’s something worth looking at to face the problems we have with the volunteer firemen.”

In the proposed legislation, no one under 16 could buy fireworks. Anyone under 18 would be required to wear some type of eye protection, such as goggles folks strap on while using weed-eaters. And, in every type of fireworks sold, a safety brochure for the proper use of handling must be included.

Modern history appears to be on the side of proponents such as Rotz.

Available data kept by the industry show the number of injuries has been falling “very, very rapidly” since the 1970s, even as more and more people are setting off fireworks, he said. (note there is no mention of pollution effects as that is a loosing argument the fireworks industry does not want investigated or discussed; oh and lets trust the lobbyist supplied data on injuries, which by the way are only for injuries on one day a year unlike all other injury statistics for other products; LAAG)

On its Web site, the American Pyrotechnics Association shows that 29 million pounds of fireworks were touched off in 1976, and there were an estimated 11,100 injuries, for a rate of 38.3 per 100,000 pounds. Two years ago, the consumption soared to 278.2 million pounds and injures had plummeted to 9,200, or a rate of 3.3 per 100,000. Growth in the industry has been nothing less than phenomenal. In 1997, it reported sales of $350 million, but two years ago, the figure had leaped to $900 million.

Contact Mannix by email at mannix@register-herald.com

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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An answer to our question

For some time now LAAG has posed the question: What to "civic groups" do to raise money in cities like Long Beach (the majority in CA) that have outlawed the sale of safe and sane fireworks? Well the story below is one answer. A golf tournament. Also then raised over 100,000 in donations. But I guess selling smoke and fire (also enriching the Chinese fireworks factories) is a more "environmentally friendly" way to raise quick cash. I think the problem we have with the economy right now is people trying to raise funds "the quick and easy way".

We post this story for the benefit of all the more enlightened cities (or rather city councils) out there battling the fireworks money/lobbyists and the civic groups who cry about not being able to raise the money via "bake sales" to replace the toxic fireworks sales. It can be done, but of course fireworks is the "quick and dirty" way to do it. Again, like selling crack, which another quick and easy way to make to make big profits.


L.B. Kiwanians raise $50,000 for campers
By Pamela Hale-Burns, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 07/26/2008 09:33:26 PM PDT

LONG BEACH - A $50,000 check from Kiwanis Club of Long Beach, made out to the Send-A-Kid-To-Camp program, has been presented to Press-Telegram Executive Editor Rich Archbold and columnist Tom Hennessy.

Founded in 1915, Kiwanis International is an organization of service clubs headquartered in Indianapolis that emphasizes service to children and youth.

"The Kiwanis' mission is to essentially change the world one child and one community at a time," Long Beach Kiwanis President Bob Reilly said at the Tuesday luncheon where the check was presented. "I think if we don't take care of our children our future's going to look pretty dim."

Reilly encourages others to contribute to the youths in their community.

"If there's anything society can do it is take care of our children. Give them hope and educate them," he said.

Each year, proceeds from the club's annual golf tournament reach the $50,000 goal, but they hope to give more this year.

"We give as often as we can," Reilly said. "We would like to try and increase that this year to $60,000."

Hopes for campers

"We hope that for each child it's a life-changing experience for them," Reilly said. "Many of the kids we send to camp have never been to camp and many of the kids we send, even in Long Beach, have never seen the ocean that they live four to five miles from."

Every little bit helps, said Reilly.

"If you just get kids to do happy things for one week it's something they will never forget," he said.

"There's a famous person who once said `Suffer the little children,'... if there is any reason to take care of children, I'd think that would be one."

Kiwanis' Golf Tournament 2008 will be Oct. 27 at the Old Ranch Country Club, 3901 Lampson Ave., Seal Beach. It is open to the public. Entry fees are $250 per person. All proceeds are given to Send-A-Kid-

To-Camp. For information, call 562-495-3193.

Including the Kiwanis donation, $102,680 has been raised so far this year by 457 donors to help send kids to camp.

pam.hale@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1476

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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Will the fireworks money win like it did in Lakewood?

Well we wish Petaluma a lot of luck in dealing with the fireworks industry and their lobbyists (the so call civic groups or "non" profits) in the story below. I for one love to see all the money thrown around. Proof once again that its not patriotism but cash that drives the fireworks lobby. Its a bit like fighting the SUV driving soccer moms and their allies the oil companies when it comes to off shore drilling. Hey California only had one spill...Hey Petaluma only had a few fires caused by legal fireworks (that we KNOW of). Its very hard to wean people off their addiction to oil just like fireworks when the only immediate beneficiaries you can point to are the environment and the peace and quiet that all the other residents not working for a so called "civic group" enjoy (as do the animals). Where is Al Gore when you need him?


Battle over fireworks heats up
Council members favoring ban face opposition from nonprofit groups, pyrotechnics industry
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080720/NEWS/807200384&title=Battle_over_fireworks_heats_up

By PAUL PAYNE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, July 20, 2008 at 10:55 a.m.
A political brawl shaping up in Petaluma over whether to outlaw fireworks could mirror one in Santa Rosa nearly five years ago that set records for campaign spending and ended in a citywide ban.

Battle lines were drawn during the recent Northern California wildfires when Petaluma Mayor Pam Torliatt appealed to the City Council to place a prohibition on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Although none of the fires were started by fireworks and there have been few mishaps in the city that can be traced to them, she said residents have expressed concern about dry conditions and are asking to put the matter to a vote.

Several council members appeared to support the idea and some said they favor an immediate ban to spare the $7,000 to $14,000 expense of an election. A decision is expected at the Monday council meeting.

"It becomes an issue and has been an issue over the years," Torliatt said July 7.

However, opposition is mounting from 16 city nonprofits who sell fireworks to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year and leaders in the fireworks industry who organized the Santa Rosa campaign.

New rules suggested

Dennis Revell, a spokesman for American Promotional Events, the distributor of Red Devil, Freedom and TNT fireworks, said in a letter to Torliatt and council members that outlawing state-approved fireworks is wrong.

Instead of a ban, he asked the council to consider restricting sales and use and imposing stiffer fines for first-time violators, which could put money in city coffers.

Rather than allowing sales for the six days before the Fourth of July, Revell said the city could reduce it to four days. Likewise, the use of fireworks could be cut from 96 hours over 6½ days to 13 hours on the holiday only.

A fine of $1,000 would make people who possess or use illegal fireworks such as skyrockets say "ouch," Revell said in his letter.

"Everyone agrees that when it comes to fireworks, the problem has always been and continues to be illegal fireworks, not state-approved fireworks," Revell said.

Nonprofits also object to any ban.

Dick Sharke of the McDowell Drug Task Force said fireworks have allowed his group to raise an average of $53,000 a year since 1999 to spend on worthy programs that benefit students, Vietnam veterans and the poor.

He has vowed to fight any effort to stop fireworks.

"(The group) has been in the community for 26 years and has never asked for or received any local, state or federal funding," Sharke said in a letter to council.

Similar arguments were made in Santa Rosa in 2003, when the council enacted a ban after a house was destroyed by state-approved fireworks.

SR referendum lost

The fireworks industry brought a referendum to voters in March of the following year and lost, 57 percent to 43 percent. The two sides in the fight over Measure F spent a combined $372,130, a record for municipal elections in the county.

American Promotional Events, a Florence, Ala.-based fireworks distributor, and its allies spent more than $280,000.

Yes on Measure F forces spent $87,634. Most of the money came from companies that do business with the city or rely on the city for building approvals.

On Monday, the Petaluma council will consider options that could trigger similar responses from the industry and nonprofits.

Three scenarios

Fire Marshal Michael Ginn said the council can decide to place a ban on the November ballot, enact an outright prohibition or do nothing.

If the council enacts a ban, opponents likely would begin the referendum process to put the question to voters in November 2010, Ginn said.

Certification of a referendum would temporarily suspend any ban until voters can chime in, he said.

The Fire Department has long fought for restrictions over the years, but Ginn said there is little evidence that state-approved fireworks are to blame for fires.

On July 4, one person was cited for possession of illegal fireworks and a small grass fire was blamed on the legal kind, Ginn said.

The city will have to decide if the risks outweigh the benefits, he said.

"One misused firework and we could have something like what happened in Santa Rosa a few years ago," Ginn said. "I hate to be the guy saying, 'the sky is falling,' but the potential is there."

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 762-7297 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.


Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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Verizon fios update July 19 2008

A LAAG reader writes:

"Do you know whether they will be offering us all the FIOS services internet, tv, phone right away? I've read that in some places around the country, they don't offer everything at first. Maybe they offer internet and phone, then tv later, for whatever reason."

No reply from Verizon on that yet. However one other development. Verizon recently (week of July 14, 2008) placed curbside/parkway terminals (called "FDH's" or "Fiber Distribution Hubs") on Ashworth near Ibbetson and 2 FDH's side by side on Allington near Ibbetson. These are tan "vault like" cabinets that look virtually tamper proof (don't want anyone stealing fios or hijacking the fiber!). They are about 3.5 feet all and about 1/3 the size of a standard refrigerator. The Verizon linemen "on the ground" (not contractors) told me those are placed near where all the loops are seen on the poles and hooking those boxes up is one of the last steps done before the fiber is lit up. The boxes do not look like they are hooked up yet. Once they are all those loops of fiber on the poles above them will disappear as they run them underground into the boxes. This is where all the splicing takes place. Different teams of linemen are used on this hookup operation than running the fiber on the poles. Also keep in mind that some of the main trunk lines of fiber are run underground but most of it in this area is aeriel. We have seen some fiber run from the poles to underground conduits in a few spots in Lakewood.

This link has a nice example of what the street mounted FDH's look like from the inside and videos of how Verizon hooks them up. Also in some states they use the same size FDH but pole mounted. Here in Lakewood they are using the sidewalk or parkway level mounted boxes. Verizon apparently calls these "pedestal" mounted FDH's. Also note the red or dark orange wrappers on the fiber lines on the poles on the link above. They use those here in Lakewood too so I guess the linemen working with copper will not touch those fiber lines.

Lakewood Accountability Action Group™ LAAG | www.LAAG.us | Lakewood, CA
A California Non Profit Association | Demanding action and accountability from local government™

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