Three proposed ballot measures submitted to the city of San Diego by members of the public met varying fates Wednesday when they were presented to the City Council’s Rules Committee.
Californians Aware, led by former San Diego City Councilwoman Donna Frye, is proposing that would have public business conducted on personal electronic devices be part of the public record was referred to the City Attorney’s office for further study of operational and legal issues.
Such communications would be controlled by the city for purposes of disclosure and subject to the state’s Public Records Act. Frye wrote in her proposal that such communications reasonably fall within the definition of a record to be retained by the city.
“In other words, city officials should not be able to use their private cell phones or computers as a means of preventing disclosure of the public’s business,” Frye said.
She received support from the San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which said its board “unequivocally believes that the public’s business should be done in public and that every citizen has the right to use open records laws to track what government does in our name.”
SPJ characterized as “nonsense” the thought that a politician or government bureaucrat had an expectation of privacy when using a device.
The City Attorney’s Office will also opine on how the outcome of litigation on a similar matter in San Jose will impact Frye’s plan.
The Public Records Act Request Process Improvement Working Group was also directed to look into how the proposed language would be implemented.
Committee Chairwoman Sherri Lightner requested that the information be returned to the committee in June, which would leave time to place a measure on the November general election ballot.
The committee took no action on a proposed ballot measure by civic activist Katheryn Rhodes to increase the hotel room tax by 5 percent, with proceeds going to the general fund, which pays for basic services like public safety and libraries.
In her proposal, Rhodes said raising the hotel room tax — officially known as the Transient Occupancy Tax — to 15.5 percent would result in nearly $360 million in annual revenue, an almost $165 million boost to city coffers.
Councilwoman Marti Emerald asked staff for a comparison of how San Diego’s TOT stacks up with other cities.
The presentation of a proposal by Women Occupy San Diego to reform of the Citizens’ Review Board on Police Practices was postponed until June, because backers are aiming for the November ballot.
–City News Service