Court Opinion

ID: 9782233
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 18:09:19.701966+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:52.886562
License: Public Domain

BAXTER, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
Except as to peace officers, I agree with the majority that the names and salaries of public employees earning $100,000 or more per year are not exempt from public disclosure under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) (Gov. Code, § 6250 et seq.).
With regard to peace officers, I also agree with the majority’s conclusion that the salaries of peace officers earning $100,000 or more per year, as a general matter, are not exempt from public disclosure under the CPRA. However, I have joined Justice Chin’s dissenting opinion in Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training v. Superior Court (2007) 42 Cal.4th 278, 306 [64 Cal.Rptr.3d 661, 165 P.3d 462] (dis. opn. of Chin, J.), which, contrary to the majority view in that case, recognizes that peace officers’ names themselves fall into the category of confidential “[p]ersonal data,” within the meaning of Penal Code section 832.8, subdivision (a), when the names are recorded in peace officer personnel records.1 Accordingly, I agree with Justice Chin here that where a request is made for disclosure of peace officers’ names in connection with a request for disclosure of peace officer salary information, “names may not be disclosed to the extent the source of that information is a ‘file maintained under [the peace officer’s] name by his or her employing agency.’ (Pen. Code, § 832.8.)” (Conc. & dis. opn. of Chin, J., post, at p. 350.)

 Penal Code sections 832.7 and 832.8 are part of the statutory scheme mandating confidentiality of peace officer personnel records. (Stats. 1978, ch. 630, §§ 5, 6, p. 2083.) Peace officer “personnel records” made confidential by subdivision (a) of Penal Code section 832.7 are defined in subdivision (a) of section 832.8, the companion statute, as any file kept by the employing agency under the name of the officer and containing records relating to “[p]ersonal data, including marital starns, family members, educational and employment history, home addresses, or other similar information."

 All further unlabeled statutory references are to the Government Code.