THE PROCESS FOR requesting public records in San Francisco on the NextRequest platform is very easy and can all be done online. You can make a request in less than five minutes the first time you try. It is far from a perfect system, as the accompanying stories in this series suggest, but can be a great resource.
San Francisco’s Sunshine Ordinance is designed to create transparency in city government and says that all records are presumed to be public records unless specifically exempted by law.
Under the ordinance, there is generally no charge for requesting public records. You do not need to be a city resident. You do not have to give the city a reason for wanting or needing the documents. You may also submit multiple requests, and you need not wait for a response before making a different request.
Here are a few important things that will help you navigate the process.
A public records request is not a general question that you would like the city to answer; it is a request for city records on a particular subject that you would like to see.
The city will not create a record for you; it will only give you copies of the records they have.
A public record is not necessarily a document. Public records are a broad category that includes photos, documents, emails, texts, videos, data and other records that are in the control or possession of a city department. Public records include digital information, and you can request to receive such information in its native form.
San Francisco’s system is a departmental system. This means that you will need to determine which department has the records you seek and direct your request to that department. (Note that not all city departments use the NextRequest platform. For those departments you need to follow their own procedures, usually found on their departmental page on San Francisco’s website.)
Making the request
To make a request go the portal and click the button at the top that says, “Make Request” that will take you to the request page.
On the request page you may enter your contact information if you want (you may also create a free account). You may request information anonymously, but if you do you will not be notified when the department responds, and you will need to check back to the site.
From the pull-down menu, you must identify the department you are reaching out to. The 18 San Francisco departments and agencies that are part of the NextRequest system are listed on the home page of San Francisco’s portal. Sometimes it is easy to suss out the proper department — records for example about homeless shelters are likely to be found with the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. However, if you are unsure, you just submit the same request multiple times — one to each of the departments that might have the document. Submit them all at the same time so you are not ping-ponged around the city as one department after another says you are in the wrong place.
When you have selected the department, type in your records request. The request does not need to be written in legalese. Use plain language and strive to be clear. You can ask for public records on any topic.
A simple request to the Department of Public Works might be:
Please provide the public records that show any code violations on the property at 1234 Anywhere Street from Jan 1, 2000 to date.
A date range is not required but is often a good way to target what you want and avoid overload.
If the city has records that are not exempt from disclosure, the city will make them available for viewing and downloading under the “Documents” tab.
The city is generally required to answer your request and produce the public records you request in 10 days. In cases where the city needs more time for specific reasons, it may take a 14-day extension (though whether the city is entitled to do this is sometimes contested).
If you are requesting a document that is “simple, routine and readily available” you may make an “Immediate Disclosure Request” that will require the document to be produced the next business day. To invoke this process the request must use the words “IMMEDIATE DISCLOSURE REQUEST” in all caps as the first thing you type in the request box (even before the request itself.)
By the way, if you want to search prior record requests on the system (at least those that are visible and have not been purged), select the “All Requests” tab and type in your search request.