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.
Fighting for a more accountable California
Through investigations, litigation, and policy reform, CCDI is holding government accountable and defending the rights and freedoms of Californians.
Citizens. Constitution. Accountability. Real change.
5M+
Public impressions
Our investigations, public-records findings, legal work, and government-accountability reporting have generated more than five million views.
75+
Public records investigations
We have filed 75+ Public Records Act requests to uncover waste, corruption, and unlawful government activity across California.
$90K+
Government penalties erased
We have helped Californians eliminate more than $90,000 in abusive, unsupported, or improperly imposed government penalties.
Statewide
Legislative & policy reform
Developing legislative and policy reforms involving access to justice, transportation and DMV systems, housing and property rights, public records, administrative law, and government accountability.
58 counties
Built for California
From rural communities to major cities, our work spans all 58 counties because government overreach violates rights everywhere, not just in coastal cities.
National bench
Legal, policy & industry expertise
Our network brings together experienced civil-rights litigators, leading legal scholars and advisors, law-school partners, policy experts, industry leaders, journalists, and public-interest organizations.
Investing in what comes next
Next generation legal talent pipeline
Building internship, externship, research, and hands-on public-interest opportunities with leading law schools to develop the next generation of civil-liberties attorneys.
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
