CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION
CALIFORNIA CORRECTIONAL HEALTH CARE SERVICES
Health Care Department Operations Manual
Chapter 5, Article 1 5.1.2, California Public Records Act Requests Page 1 of 3
5.1.2 California Public Records Act Requests
(a) Policy
(1) The California Public Records Act (PRA) requires that government records be released to the public, upon request,
unless the records are specifically exempt from disclosure by law. Under provisions of the PRA, California
Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) shall ensure timely responses to all health care-related PRA requests.
(2) Responsive records to a PRA request shall be released unless they disclose personal, medical, or other private
information about an individual; confidential financial or trade secret information about a company/vendor; are
exempt under the PRA; or the PRA requester chooses not to remit the assessed fee for the records. All requests for
records shall be considered PRA requests with the exception of subpoenas, court orders, search warrants, or legal
documents. It is not necessary for a records request to cite the PRA or any other authority, to state the purpose for
the request, or to identify themselves or their affiliation.
(b) Responsibilities
(1) The Deputy Director, Policy and Risk Management Services, or designee, has the authority to release records
requested under the PRA and shall ensure departmental compliance with this policy.
(2) The Associate Director, Risk Management Branch (AD RMB), shall designate a CCHCS PRA Coordinator, or
designee, responsible for releasing all health care-related PRA requests.
(3) The CCHCS PRA Coordinator, or designee, shall ensure instructions for making a PRA request are posted at
CCHCS headquarters and https://cchcs.ca.gov/pra/
at all times. The Chief Executive Officer, or designee, at each
(4) Health Care Litigation Support Section (LSS) staff are responsible for researching PRA requests; contacting
programs for responsive records; calculating costs for compiling, copying, and furnishing records, if produced by
LSS; preparing PRA responses; and submitting responses to the CCHCS PRA Coordinator for approval to release
which may include responsive records, a denial, notification of extension, or confirmation of records, and
instructions on remittance or in-person inspection.
(c) Procedure
(1) Submittal of Public Records Act Requests
Health Care Services, Attention: PRA C
oordinator, Buildin
g C, P.O. Box 588500,
Elk Grove, CA 95758
.
(B) Health care-related PRA requests submitted to CCHCS or California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) employees shall be forwarded to LSS within 24 hours of receipt.
1.
Requests for contract records made during a contract’s procurement shall not be considered PRA requests and shall be forwarded immediately to the CCHCS contracting office responsible for that procurement.
This shall ensure that vendors are provided timely information prior to the close of the procurement.
2.
Only upon completion of a contract’s procurement, including any applicable protest period, will requests for contract records be processed as PRA requests and forwarded to LSS.
(C) LSS shall contact the requester to clarify requests that are overly broad, vague, or not sufficiently descriptive,
and assist in focusing the request, if possible.
(2) Fee Determination and Collection
(A) CCHCS shall collect fees for responsive records if:
1. Hardcopy records are requested; or
2. Data compilation, extraction, or programming to produce the record is required.
(B) LSS shall contact the appropriate CCHCS program area to determine if there is a fee associated with the PRA
request.
(C) Prior to performing any tasks to gather responsive documents, LSS shall email to the program area the Public
Records Act Staff Salary and Cost Breakdown worksheet to complete which includes:
1. An estimate of the calculated hours needed to complete the request, and
2. The number and classifications of staff that will be utilized.
(D) LSS shall:
1.
Calculate the hourly rate based on the mid-
range salary for the classification performing the data compilation, extraction, or programming to produce the record.
2. Prepare a cost estimate.
3. Provide the estimate to the requester, in writing, with instructions on remittance of payment and due date.