California's Public Records Act secures the public's access to records of the California Earthquake Authority, so long as those records are not confidential or privileged.
Most Public Records Act requests we receive are for records available on this website. We recommend you search this website before making a Public Records Act request.
Here is how to ask for public records from the CEA
- You can send us a letter, telephone us, or go to the public information counter at our office. You can find our address and telephone number here.
- Your request should identify the records you are seeking, state whether you would like to view the records at our office or receive photocopies of the records, and, if you want photocopies, whether you want a copying-cost estimate before we copy the records.
- There is no charge to look at records, and there is no charge if you copy records using your own equipment that you bring to our office. But if you want us to make copies, we impose a per-page charge of 30 cents. This is the same per-page rate established by the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, as an appropriate reimbursement rate for copying public records—it includes both copy-equipment expenses and the cost of paying staff to handle documents and make copies.
- If you want copies of public records the CEA routinely maintains in electronic format and that we can put on a CD, we charge one dollar for each CD in addition to a reasonable service charge for staff time.
- If your request requires us to do special computer programming, you must pay us for the actual cost and expense to us of programming time we spend (or arrange for) on that request, as well as the cost of any special supplies or services we need to use. You will be required to pay us before we begin work on your request; if you pay by personal check, we will wait for the check to clear your bank before starting the work.
- If you want us to mail you copies of records, we will not charge you for the cost of first-class postage; if you want records sent by any other method, however, or if special handling is involved, we will charge you in order to reimburse our actual cost.
- You can come to our office at any time during the office’s regular public hours, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If we cannot fill your request when you arrive, we may set a date and time for you to come back. In any case, within 10 calendar days of receiving your request we will either make the records available to you or let you know that we may need up to an additional 14 calendar days to research and respond to your request. By the end of that 14-day period, we will tell you whether records will be produced and when.
You may also email a request for public records to the CEA Public Records Coordinator.