A reporter for Politico is seeking a report explaining delays in voting last March in a debut of a $300 million voting system in Los Angeles County. The county said it would not release the full report to protect confidential information intended to safeguard and improve the voting system. (Courthouse News Service, August 12, 2020, by Nathan Solis)
The American Civil Liberties Union claims the Pomona City Council and the unified school district are breaking the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, by failing to allow citizens to make comments to the council and school board during virtual meetings. (Daily Bulletin, August 11, 2020, by Javier Rojas)
The Kern County Board of Supervisors are conducting private teleconferences with other county officials to discuss the pandemic, holding that the conferences are briefing and not meetings. While the calls may be permitted, FAC’s David Snyder says they should be open to the public for “the sake of good government and transparency.” (The Record, August 11, 2020, by Stacey Shepard)
The district attorney warned the Oxnard mayor that the city manager violated the Brown Act by allowing the city manager to speak on a topic not on the meeting’s agenda. (Ventura County Star, August 8, 2020, by Wendy Leung)
In preparing the budget dealing with spending on the pandemic and reallocation of funds from the police, the Long Beach city Council withheld details of the budget before meeting. The Brown Act requires publishing details 72 hours before any meeting open to the public. (LBReport.com, August 3, 2020, by the publisher)
Grassroots Alhambra filed a complaint with the district attorney alleging Brown Act violations during Alhambra’s consideration of an affordable housing ordinance that would apply to a sizable new housing development. (Colorado Boulevard.net, August 3, 2020, by Melissa Michelson)
In defeat for Lafayette residents hoping to stop a housing development, the California Supreme Court ruled for the city in rejecting contentions the city had violated the Brown Act in limiting citizen participation in the decision. The city spent $936,319. 08 in their defense. (Lamorinda Weekly, August 5, 2020, by Pippa Fisher)
A tomato cannery sued Hollister over alleged violations of a state environmental law and the Brown Act in a dispute over the cannery’s wastewater practices. (Water & Wastes Digest, July 30, 2020, by Cristina Tuser)
Clay Lambert of the Half Moon Bay Review, July 28, 2020, writes that San Mateo County elected representatives are meeting weekly with county officials including the health officer without announcements or invitations to the public. Lambert argues that while these meetings may be allowed under the governor’s orders for the pandemic, there is no compelling reason to exclude the public from these meetings.
In the Marin Independent Journal, July 24, 2020, Doug Kelly said Mill Valley Mayor Sashi McEntee side stepped a question on racial justice at a council meeting on June 1. She cited the Brown Act that prohibits comment on items not on the agenda unless they concern an emergency. In fact, writes Kelly, the act allows brief comment by elected officials or staff. The act states “…on their own initiative or in response to questions posed by the public, a member of a legislative body or its staff may ask a question for clarification, make a brief announcement, or make a brief report on his or her own activities.”
A National City councilman accused three council colleagues of violating the Brown Act during a June 16 council meeting in their attempt to censure him over a controversial image he introduced in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Councilmember Ron Morrison said the censure was not on the agenda so violated the state’s open meeting law. The council rescinded its earlier motion of censure during a August 4 meeting but with the item on the agenda this time voted for censure again. The Star News, July 24, 2020, by Jessica Brodkin Webb)
A federal district judge ordered the release of a videotape of the court hearing over Proposition 8 that prohibited same-sex marriage in California. Judge William Orrick III ruled that given the end of the 10-year limit on sealing court documents, there was no excuse for withholding the video. Proponents of the proposition feared retaliation, but Orrick wrote that he saw no evidence of such a threat. (San Francisco Chronicle, July 1, 2020, by Bob Egelko)