Tomorrow morning, the Supreme Court will file its opinion in State Department of Public Health v. Superior Court. That case, which was argued on the court’s December calendar, raises this issue: In the context of a request under the Public Records Act (Gov. Code, § 6250) for citations issued by the Department of Public Health to state facilities housing the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled, can the public accessibility provisions for citations issued under the Long-Term Care Act (Health & Saf. Code, § 1417 et seq.) be reconciled with the confidentiality provisions of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5000 et seq.) and the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 4500 et seq.), and, if so, how?
This is the first opinion in the cases that were argued in December. Under the 90-day rule, the court has three more regular filing days after tomorrow to issue opinions in the remaining five cases.
The State Department of Public Health opinion can be viewed tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m.
