A bill passed by the California legislature and signed by Governor Jerry Brown establishes that the State Bar is subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act and the California Public Records Act. (Metropolitan News-Enterprise, October 7i, 2015, by a MetNews Staff Writer)
The Oakdale city manager is asking the council to change the ordinance for the Oakdale Tourism Business Improvement District to specify that all meetings be announced with agendas published beforehand. (Oakdale Leader, October 7, 2015, by Richard Paloma)
An open-government controversy continues in Chula Vista over an appointment to the City Council in February. Council members allegedly conducted a serial meeting by e-mailing their votes for finalist candidates to the city clerk. A lawsuit is in the works that claims that the public was not informed about who voted for whom to send candidates into the interview round. (The Star News, October 5, 2015, by Robert Moreno)
Required by law to consult with Native American leaders, the Inyo County Supervisors are struggling to work out protocols for the meetings. The tribe’s customs and requirements do not always conform to the requirements of the Brown Act, California’s open government law. (Sierra Wave Media, October 3, 2015, by Deb Murphy)
Meetings to rename the Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Long Beach are closed to the public. The list of 24 citizens named to the renaming committee is diverse, but the district claims that since the superintendent rather than the school board is forming the advisory committee, it is not subject to the Brown Act. (Long Beach Press Telegram, September 23, 2015, by Phillip Zonkel)
A Los Angeles County supervisor and Metrolink director is contending that Metrolink directors failed to follow the Brown Act by holding an emergency meeting to discuss the safety of Hyundai Rotem cab cars. Supervisor Michael Antonovich said that given the importance of the discussion it was of utmost importance to make it public. (Los Angeles Times, September 10, 2015, by Dan Weikel)
The Glendora city council is battling a citizen who asked the council to extend her three minutes of public comment to five minutes. Sharon Green continues to speak after her allotted time prompting the council to exit the meeting for the last two minutes. (San Gabriel Valley Tribune, August 28, 2015, by Melissa Masatani)