In a groundbreaking victory for open-government advocates, a Sacramento County Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered the state Senate and its leaders to turn over the appointment calendars and other records of two former state senators.

In a sweeping decision, Judge Michael Kenny tentatively ruled that the appointment books, meeting schedules and calendars of former Democratic Sens. Leland Yee and Ron Calderon requested by two news organizations are public records.

The Los Angeles News Group and its sister news organization the Bay Area News Group sued the state Senate last year over its refusal to release portions of the appointment calendars of the senators.

Senate leaders maintained the records were exempt under state open records law.

In his ruling, Kenny wrote that the public interest in the documents outweighs keeping them private.

“The allegation of such wrongdoings created by the federal investigation is of a significant interest to the public. To the extent these alleged activities occurred under the guise of the legislators’ official duties is even more concerning,” Kenny wrote.

“This ruling, once final, will allow our journalists to more thoroughly investigate exactly with whom Sen. Calderon met on certain days and the nature of those meetings,” said Michael A. Anastasi, vice president of news and executive editor of LANG, which includes this publication.

Peter Scheer, executive director at the First Amendment Coalition, a San Francisco-based non-profit dedicated to government accountability and free speech, said the Legislature has long fought to keep its records and calendars private. By contrast, governors and local city officials are expected to comply with public records requests, Scheer said.

“It’s an important decision,” Scheer said of Thursday’s ruling. “The Legislature, under its own law, has up until now enjoyed complete immunity from public access.”

The Senate Rules Committee, under the direction of Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, rejected a request from this news organization asking for the calendar entries of Calderon. The request was an attempt to find out with whom Calderon met on specific dates outlined in an FBI affidavit.

Secretary of the Senate Gregory Schmidt also rejected four requests from the Bay Area News Group to obtain calendar entries for Yee, who was federally charged with public corruption, racketeering and weapons trafficking.

Bob Pratt, counsel for the California State Legislature and the Senate leaders, didn’t immediately respond.

LANG and BANG attorney Duffy Carolan predicted the court ruling would finally address the 1991 court ruling, Times Mirror Company v. Superior Court, in which the court blocked a request for five years of governor calendars. Over the years, the California Legislature has leaned on that ruling and rejected numerous news organization requests for records.

Thursday’s ruling “puts to rest the notion that public officials’ calendars are off limits,” Carolan said.

Terry Francke, general counsel for Californians Aware, a state nonprofit that advocates for open government, cited a recent poll that found overwhelming support for more transparency in the Legislature.

Following Thursday’s tentative ruling, Kenny will issue a final ruling. The next hearing is scheduled for this morning, Carolan said.

Calderon has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of accepting nearly $100,000 in cash bribes and other perks in exchange for political favors. He was snared in an FBI sting in which an undercover agent posed as a film executive.

The basis of Yee’s indictment — which involves his fundraiser Keith Jackson and former Chinatown gang leader Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, among others — is also a months-long FBI sting operation involving interactions with undercover agents, many of which appear to have been recorded.

Both cases are set to go to trial this year.