A group of Anaheim residents submitted a demand letter to its city council and administration for an end to what they allege are secret deliberations and negotiations over the Angel Stadium sale. (Voice of OC, January 21, 2020, by Spencer Custodio)
An open government group is claiming that the Ventura City Council is failing to report the results of votes in closed sessions concerning legal action as required by the Brown Act, the state’s open government law. (VC Reporter, January 22, 2020, by Kimberly Rivers)
A San Bernardino County Supervisor is stepping aside after a court ruled her appointment violated the Brown Act. The county is involved in a protracted legal battle in defense of the appointment. (The San Bernardino Sun, January 15, 2020, by Sandra Emerson)
The Solvang City Council voted to remove a member of the Board of Architectural Review who sent an e-mail to her fellow board members urging them to take specific actions in advance of a re-scheduled meeting. The e-mail was alleged to violate the Brown Act that prohibits conducting official business outside of announced meetings. (Santa Maria Times, January 16, 2020, by Len Wood with contributions from Jennifer Best)
A Superior Court judge ruled in favor of FAC and CalAware in finding that Bakersfield violated both the Public Records Act and the Brown Act by holding closed meeting on the city’s financial status and then refusing to release records related to those discussions. The City Council is now required to record all closed meetings for the next year and pay the attorney fees and costs incurred by the nonprofits who brought suit. (BakersfieldNow, January 10, 2020, by BakersfieldNow Staff, and Bakersfield Californian, January 9, 2020)
The superintendent of the Conejo Valley Unified School District said a board member had made 12 false accusations against him over the last year making it difficult for him to do his job. The board member said that Mark McLaughlin violated the Brown Act by not putting the issue on the agenda. (Thousand Oaks Acorn, December 19, 2020, by Dawn Megli)
Some Corcoran residents were disappointed to find they could not log into Justin Curti’s facebook page to watch a video of a city council meeting they could not attend. Curti said he was prevented from recording the meeting in possible violation of the Brown Act that grants the right to record so long as there is not disruption of the meeting. Valley Voice, December 17, 2020, by Catherine Doe)
In response to a challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Oceanside Unified School District changed its policy on public participation at board meetings. The new policy states that the board “may limit” total time for public discussion on an item to 20 minutes rather than “will limit” the total time to 20 minutes. It also added more time for accepting comments on non-agenda items. (The San Diego Union-Tribune, December 4, 2020, by Deborah Sullivan Brennan)