Building a Better California by Holding Government Accountable.
California Civil Defense Institute is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public-interest organization helping Californians fight abusive government through public records, social media, lawsuits, and policy. Our mission is to help Californians fight government abuse, expose corruption, and build a better California and our vision is a California where citizens are free to live, raise families, build businesses, and thrive without abusive government standing in their way. We believe California should be the best place to live, raise a family, work, build, and thrive. That requires a government that obeys the law, respects citizens, protects civil liberties, and answers to the people it serves. We are a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public-interest organization. EIN 42-1930302.
Our Philosophy & Guiding Principles
Our philosophy draws from several traditions rather than any political party or ideology: individual liberty and voluntaryism, natural rights and equality before the law, human-centered prosperity, responsible stewardship, social and economic fairness, and evidence-based public policy. We are neither conservative nor liberal. We are pro-human. People come first. We ask whether a policy respects human dignity, expands meaningful freedom and opportunity, treats people fairly, protects them from abuse, and actually produces better outcomes. Our guiding principles are self-ownership and liberty, voluntaryism and meaningful choice, human-centered prosperity, stewardship and responsibility, fairness and equality before the law, and evidence-based policy. We believe institutions exist to serve people, not the other way around, and that public policy should ultimately be judged by whether it helps individuals, families, businesses, and communities flourish. We believe public policy carries an obligation to the next generation. A society should be judged not only by how it treats people today, but by whether it leaves our children more free, more secure, more capable, and better positioned to flourish than we were.
How We Hold Government Accountable
CCDI advances accountability through four connected pillars—uncovering hidden records, rallying the public, taking legal action, and reforming the systems that let abuse happen.
Public Records & Investigations
Our public records team uses the California Public Records Act and enforcement actions to unseal hidden documents, expose misconduct, and bring daylight to how agencies really operate.
Public Awareness & Media
We turn findings into public pressure—investigations, media work, First Amendment audits, and education that force accountability and keep Californians informed.
Litigation & Legal Action
Strategic litigation that enforces constitutional rights, challenges police misconduct and unlawful enforcement, compels compliance, and holds government actors legally accountable.
Public Policy & Reform
We draft and advance targeted administrative law and permitting reforms that close legal loopholes, eliminate systemic abuse, and build durable change at the state and local level.
Our Impact
We measure impact by what changes: records uncovered, fines eliminated, government conduct exposed, policies improved, citizens reached, and new capacity built to defend civil liberties across California.
California Civil Defense Institute is building a statewide public-interest infrastructure focused on one place: California. We combine investigations, public records, public awareness, legal action, policy reform, technology, and partnerships to help citizens hold government accountable.
500K+
Monthly Social Media Views
Our investigations, public-records findings, and government-accountability work routinely generate more than half a million views across social media each month.
75+
Public Records Requests
We pursue records from counties, cities, law-enforcement agencies, special districts, and statewide California agencies to uncover what government is doing behind closed doors.
$90K+
Improper Fines Eliminated
Our work has helped Californians eliminate more than $90,000 in abusive, unsupported, or improperly imposed code-enforcement penalties.
50+
Policy Reforms Developed
We have drafted, analyzed, proposed, or advanced more than 50 legislative concepts, ordinance reforms, and policy changes designed to protect citizens and improve government accountability.
58 Counties
Built for California
Our mission is exclusively focused on California, with Government Watch infrastructure being developed to strengthen citizen oversight and government accountability across all 58 counties.
Growing Network
Cooperating Attorneys
We are building relationships with attorneys and law firms across California to evaluate, refer, support, and pursue public-interest matters involving civil liberties and government abuse.
Next Generation
Law School Opportunities
We are developing internship and externship opportunities with leading California law schools so future attorneys can gain hands-on experience in civil liberties, public records, litigation, and government accountability.
Accountability
Government Forced to Answer
Our investigations and public advocacy have exposed misconduct, forced agencies and officials to answer publicly, contributed to leadership changes, and brought previously hidden government conduct into the open.
Stronger Together
We also work with public-interest organizations, researchers, journalists, citizen advocates, attorneys, and other groups when collaboration can produce better results for Californians.
People We've Supported and Represented
CCDI has mastered the strategy, the law, and the discipline required to push back effectively. In a state buried under bureaucracy, red tape, and chronic government overreach, they’re giving everyday people the tools to assert their rights and level the playing field.
Jason Bassler
Founder of The Free Thought Project & Police The Police
CCDI stepped in and helped us understand exactly what our rights are and how they were violated. They walked us through the tools available and gave us a clear path forward. For the first time, we feel like we’re not just reacting—we actually know how to fight back.
Mike & Kelsey Kamfolt
Farmsteaders in Redding
I’ve been in the fight for transparency for a long time, and what CCDI is doing stands out. They’re not just filing Public Records requests—they’re turning that information into real pressure, using media, exposure, and direct engagement with elected officials to force accountability. That combination matters. It’s one thing to uncover the truth, it’s another to make sure it can’t be ignored. CCDI is doing both, and it’s already making a difference.
Dean Getz
Small Business Owner in El Dorado Hills
