“With the Governor’s signature, another firewall is in place to protect cities, counties and small districts from being hacked and potentially defrauded from losing millions of dollars.” —Jack Batchelor, former Mayor of Dixon

Opportunity

After a sophisticated criminal scheme nearly cost the City of Dixon 1.3 million dollars, White Brenner attorneys and legislative advocates chose to view the city’s close-call as a call to action.

Challenge

The attempted fraud utilized unique vendor identification numbers often found in agenda packets posted online in compliance with the California Public Records Act (PRA). However, any attempts to restrict information available to the public, would likely face fierce opposition from the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA).

Solution

White Brenner legislative advocates worked together with the City of Dixon and California State Senator Lois Wolk to develop legislation to safeguard and exempt this key financial information from the PRA. Instead of battling with, they proactively engaged the CNPA to find the right balance between protecting the public’s right to access public records and preventing the misuse of that same information to defraud local agencies.