What Is CPC 6110 and Its Public Disclosure Mandate?

California law mandates that certain government agencies make written legal advice they receive available to the public. This requirement is designed to foster transparency, allowing citizens to understand the legal rationale behind the decisions of their elected and appointed officials.

This legal framework establishes a default rule of openness for specific communications from an agency’s legal counsel. By compelling the disclosure of these documents, the law aims to prevent secret governance where legal justifications for policy are hidden from public view. It balances the need for confidentiality in legal matters with the overarching public interest in open government, creating a specific pathway for citizens to access otherwise privileged information.

The Public Disclosure Mandate

The core of the disclosure requirement targets “written legal advice” that is provided by an agency’s legal counsel to its governing body. This includes formal legal opinions, memoranda, or other documents that interpret laws, regulations, or court decisions. For the mandate to apply, this written advice must be distributed to a majority of the members of a legislative body, such as a city council, county board of supervisors, or the board of a special district.

The mandate applies broadly to the governing boards of cities, counties, school districts, and other public authorities. The trigger for disclosure is the distribution of the legal writing to the board or commission itself for its consideration or action. When legal counsel prepares a memo for a governing body that is then placed on a public meeting agenda, it becomes a public record subject to disclosure. The law effectively waives the attorney-client privilege for that specific written advice, ensuring that if a board is relying on a legal interpretation to make a decision in a public forum, the public also has access to that interpretation.

Exceptions to Public Disclosure

A primary exception to the public disclosure mandate is for legal advice concerning “pending litigation.” This exception allows an agency to withhold legal guidance when it is actively involved in a lawsuit. For this exception to apply, the written advice must directly relate to the ongoing case, and its disclosure must be likely to prejudice the agency’s position. The term “pending litigation” includes existing lawsuits, situations where a lawsuit is imminent, or when the agency is initiating litigation itself. To invoke this exception, the agency’s governing body must formally cite the pending litigation in a public meeting before discussing the matter with its attorney in a closed session, and the legal advice shared remains confidential.

Another exception is the traditional attorney-client privilege, which protects confidential communications between an attorney and their client. While the disclosure mandate acts as a waiver of this privilege for written advice distributed to a full legislative body, the privilege remains intact for other communications. For example, a memo from the city attorney to a single council member or to a city manager would not be subject to the automatic disclosure rule.

This protection allows government staff and individual officials to seek confidential legal guidance without immediate public disclosure. The privilege is held by the agency as an entity, not by individual officials. Therefore, only the governing body, acting as a whole, can choose to waive the privilege and release such confidential communications.

Accessing Publicly Disclosed Legal Advice

Members of the public can access the legal advice subject to this disclosure mandate through a formal request made under the California Public Records Act (PRA). The PRA is the state’s primary law governing public access to government records, and it provides the procedural framework for obtaining these documents. The process is initiated by the individual seeking the information, who must direct their request to the specific government agency that received the legal advice.

To make a request, one must draft a written letter or email to the agency’s clerk or designated records custodian. The request should be as specific as possible, for instance, asking for “all written legal advice distributed to the city council for its meeting on May 18, 2025, concerning agenda item 7.”

Upon receiving a PRA request, the agency has a standard timeline of 10 days to respond. In its response, the agency must state whether it has the requested records and whether it will disclose them. If the agency claims an exemption, such as the pending litigation exception, it must provide the specific legal basis for its refusal to disclose the documents. If the agency agrees to provide the records, it may charge a nominal fee for the cost of duplication and will then make the documents available for inspection or provide copies.