The Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara has recently released its ruling that the California Public Records Act (CPRA) requires Santa Clara to sell an electronic copy of its GIS basemap (parcels, streets, orthophotos, etc.) to the public at cost, rather than at the much higher price it had been charging. A copy of the decision can be found at the website of the California First Amendment Coalition, the plaintiff in the case: http://www.cfac.org/content/index.php/cfac-news/press_release/ This decision is important because some California counties believe that the CPRA does not apply to GIS data, and therefore have been charging a much higher price than being charged for other public records.
It is unclear how this decision will affect other counties or Santa Clara's recent announcement that it was withholding the sale of GIS data while reviewing its security policy. It is also unknown whether Santa Clara will appeal the Superior Court's decision.
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This case is now in appeal. For links, see: http://geodatapolicy.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/are-government-parcel-gis-data-subject-to-open-records-law/
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