Blanca Pacheco

California voters have approved over $196 billion in bonds since 2000 for infrastructure, schools, water systems, and housing. However, the state lacks consistent tracking of whether these investments achieved promised outcomes. Assembly Bill 1754 proposes requiring bond measures to define objectives, measure progress, and publicly report results.

Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco revised her proposal to amend California's public records rules after facing opposition from First Amendment advocates. The initial measure aimed to increase costs for public records requests to reduce malicious or profit-driven requests but was scaled back before passing through the Assembly, where high fees were later added.

California lawmaker Blanca Pacheco revised her bill to amend public records rules after facing opposition, removing high fees and court-based barriers for commercial requests. The current version of Assembly Bill 1821 extends response times for agencies but no longer includes provisions for increased costs or judicial reviews of request intent.

Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco's Assembly Bill 1821 proposes allowing government agencies to delay responses to public records requests and charge higher fees for 'commercial use' searches, drawing criticism from transparency advocates who argue it could make California the most secretive state. Pacheco claims the bill aims to prevent AI-driven and malicious requests from overwhelming local governments, but opponents say it creates barriers to accountability and violates public access rights.

Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco's proposed Assembly Bill 1821 would allow public agencies to delay records requests deemed 'improperly' filed, charge up to $88 hourly for commercial-use records, and sue individuals for 'malicious' requests. Critics argue the bill would undermine California's open records act and government transparency, with some calling it a 'virtual horror show of governmental non-transparency.'