Los Angeles City Attorney Video on the Brown Act

What is "Open Forum?"  What are the requirements for an Agenda?

Generally, open-meetings laws require public bodies to deliberate and act in public view. ?Public body? usually is defined to include most legislative, executive and administrative bodies of the government and its political subdivisions. A ?meeting? covered by the act often is any gathering of a majority of a quorum of the members of the public body at which public business is discussed. As so defined, an act can apply to an informal discussion among (or, increasingly, a sharing of e-mails by) a relatively small number of board or commission members.

Open-meetings acts typically require public bodies to provide the public and the media with schedules of regular meetings and prior notice of any special meetings. The public bodies also must keep written minutes of all meetings.

The strength of a sunshine law depends on its exceptions. Every open-meetings act allows public bodies to close meetings or portions of meetings in some circumstances. School boards, for example, typically can close meetings to discuss student disciplinary cases. Most public bodies also can close meetings to discuss pending litigation, the acquisition of real estate, collective bargaining and individual personnel issues. Minutes from these closed sessions, however, generally must be kept and made public if and when the matter discussed is no longer confidential.

Courts across the country have held that public bodies must limit executive sessions to only those matters permitted. Under a circuit court case, Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1984), for example, federal agencies subject to the Government in Sunshine Act, 5 U.S.C. Section 552b, must attempt to segregate non-exempt portions of meetings from exempt portions and close only those portions of meetings involving exempt topics.1^st Amendment Center

California Civil Code §1363.05

(h) The board of directors of the association shall permit any member of the association to speak at any meeting of the association or the board of directors...

(j) As used in this section, "meeting" includes any congregation of a majority of the members of the board at the same time and place to hear, discuss, or deliberate upon any item of business scheduled to be heard by the board,...

§ 54954.3. Opportunity for public to address legislative body; (a) Every agenda for regular meetings shall provide an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the legislative body on any item of interest to the public, before or during the legislative body's consideration of the item,Carlson v Paradise Unified School District

CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 425.16 (e) ..., "act in furtherance of a person's right of petition or free speech under the United States or California Constitution in connection with a public issue" includes: ...(3) any written or oral statement or writing made in a place open to the public or a public forum in connection with an issue of public interest;

Under section 54952.2, as well as prior case law, a gathering need not be formally convened in order to be covered by the Act. In Sacramento Newspaper Guild v. Sacramento County Bd. of Suprs. (1968) 263 Cal.App.2d 41, the court held that a luncheon gathering... was a meeting within the meaning of the Act. ...Construed in the light of the Brown Act’s objectives, the term ‘meeting’ extends to informal sessions or conferences of the board members designed for the discussion of public business. Brown Act  Attorney General's Explanation

How can one address the item (one in list: a single thing in a list of things) if it’s not spelled out, or until it is?

Brown Act is intended to ensure the public's right to attend public agency meetings to facilitate public participation in all phases of local government decision-making, and to curb misuse of the democratic process by secret legislation of public bodies. Chaffee v. San Francisco Library Com'n (App. 1 Dist. 2004) 9 Cal.Rptr.3d 336, 115 Cal.App.4th 461

Right to address complaints to the Board?

1st Amendment Right to Petition Q & A
First Amendment Center.org
Findlaw 1st Amendment Center

4 part test for reasonableness of time limits for Open Forum

Does the regulation serve an important  interest?

Is the interest served by the regulation unrelated to the suppression of a particular message?

Is the regulation narrowly tailored to serve the interest?

Does the regulation leave open ample alternative means for communicating messages? law.umkc.edu 

Members - public should be able to talk as long as they need to Kernel

Members' Right to Speak at Board Meetings
At Board meetings, the Board shall permit Members or their designated representatives to speak before the Board takes formal action on an item under discussion, in addition to any other opportunities to speak, and the Board shall provide for a reasonable number of persons to speak on each side of an issue. However, the Board may place reasonable time restrictions on those persons speaking during any meeting. knolls village.com

When they took the fourth amendment, I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs.
When they took the sixth amendment, I was quiet because I was innocent.
When they took the second amendment, I was quiet because I didn't own a gun.
Now they've taken the first amendment, and I can say nothing about it. geocities

The homeowners are in charge of the association. Often, homeowners will elect a board of directors to operate the association and preserve, enhance and protect the value of the CID, but the board answers to the homeowners. CA Dept of Real Estate

Board meetings served a function similar to that of a governmental body. As our Supreme Court has recognized, owners of planned development units “comprise a little democratic subsociety....” ( Nahrstedt v. Lakeside Village Condominium Assn. (1994) 8 Cal.4th 361, 374, 33 Cal.Rptr.2d 63, 878 P.2d 1275; see Cohen v. Kite Hill Community Assn. (1983) 142 Cal.App.3d 642, 651, 191 Cal.Rptr. 209.) In exchange for the benefits of common ownership, the residents elect an legislative/executive board and delegate powers to this board. This delegation concerns not only activities conducted in the common areas, but also extends to life **210 within “the confines of the home itself.” ( Nahrstedt v. Lakeside Village Condominium Assn., supra, 8 Cal.4th at p. 373, 33 Cal.Rptr.2d 63, 878 P.2d 1275) A homeowners association board is in effect “a quasi-government entity paralleling in almost every case the powers, duties, and responsibilities of a municipal government.” ( Cohen v. Kite Hill Community Assn., supra, 142 Cal.App.3d at p. 651, 191 Cal.Rptr. 209.) Because of a homeowners association board's broad powers and the number of individuals potentially affected by a board's actions, the Legislature has mandated that boards hold open meetings and allow the members to speak publicly at the meetings. ( Civ.Code, §§ 1363.05 , 1363; 1350- 1376.) These provisions parallel California's open meeting laws regulating government officials, agencies and boards. (Ralph M. Brown Act, Gov.Code, § 54950 et seq.) Both statutory schemes mandate open governance meetings, with notice, agenda and minutes requirements, and strictly limit closed executive sessions. (See, e.g., Civ.Code, § 1363.05, subd. (b). ) Damon v. Ocean Hills Journalism Club 85 Cal.App.4th 468, 475, 102 Cal.Rptr.2d 205, 209 - 210 (Cal.App. 4 Dist.,2000 davis-stirling.com

Even though the Brown Act does not apply to associations, it may provide useful guidelines for matters not specifically addressed by the Open Meeting Act. For example, may members of the board attend an informational seminar on an upcoming agenda item without violating the Open Meeting Act? The applicable portion of the Open Meeting Act is unclear: Davis Stirling

Links

Brown Act (100 Pages) 14 Pages

Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils & the Brown Act and LA City Neighborhoods.com Brown_Act

wikipedia.org/

Free Speech Handbook - Cal State

Can't have email meetings - Attorney General Opinion  On the other hand 2005 law

Brown Act

Western Ave. Task Force

Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council

Ralph Brown Act - Open Meetings - Attorney Generals Detailed Explanation

Actual Code on State's Website - Government Code  54950-54963

District Attorney Steve Cooley concluded Friday that county supervisors violated the Brown Act, the state's open meeting law, by reaching a decision behind closed doors to close the trauma center at Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center.

***Mr. Cooley, Esq.  is correct here -

"I don't know that we need to hear the tapes," said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who had accused the supervisors of violating state law. "He's the people's attorney. He says they violated the Brown Act. That's good enough for me."

1. Fourth Amendment - Search and Seizure
2. Fifth Amendment - Rights of Persons
3. Sixth Amendment - Rights of Accused in Criminal Prosecutions
4. Seventh Amendment - Civil Trials
5. Eighth Amendment - Further Guarantees in Criminal Cases

The supervisors agreed to release the meeting audiotapes on the condition that their contents remain confidential.

***Then how would there be prosecution, if Mr. Cooley had thought they did it intentionally?

Because Cooley agreed to those terms, he said he could not provide the factual basis for his written opinion.