Californians seeking access to public records could be taken to court or fined if a proposed bill is passed.

Assembly Bill 1821, proposed by Democrat Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco, originally sought to extend how long government entities had to respond to public records requests. 

Pacheco recently updated the bill, however, to include high fees for the staffing requirements needed to access public records, including an administrative fee of $22.35 an hour and a “professional fee” of $66.26 per hour, the New York Post reported. 

And if the government decides a record requester has “malicious intent,” it can take the petitioner to court and hold the request pending the outcome.

Pro-free speech advocates blasted the bill, with First Amendment Coalition Executive Director David Snyder saying the bill could be “weaponized.”

“It would be easily weaponized by agencies seeking to thwart transparency and accountability, as has already happened elsewhere in the country,” he told the Post. “For decades, California law has been clear that state and local agencies cannot sue records requesters.”

Pacheco’s office told the outlet that the “malicious intent” provision would only be used in extreme cases, such as an example from 2021 and 2022 where a requester sought five years of emails between El Dorado County and four separate email accounts.

“The malicious-intent provision is intended to address the rare circumstances in which the Public Records Act is being used to disrupt agency operations, harass staff, or consume disproportionate public resources without a corresponding public benefit,” Pacheco’s office told the Post.