A Santa Monica commission charges that the police union is dragging its feet in complying with the city’s ordinance requiring them to produce a report and recommendations to address racial profiling involving traffic stops. (San Monica Daily Press, January 4, 2024, by Thomas Leffler)
Two Temecula residents sued the Temecula Valley school district for violating the First Amendment rights and the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, by ejecting them from school board meetings without cause. One attendee was ejected fro calling a board member a “homophobe” for objecting to curriculum referencing Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. (Davis Vanguard, December 22, 2023, posted by Vanguard Administrator)
The Sacramento City council illegally placed a raise for its city manager on the agenda of a special meeting without public notice. On January 9 they will re-vote on the issue after proper public notice. (The Sacramento Bee, December 22, 2023, by Robin Epley)
The Santa Ana City Council cleared a meeting in December after members of the audience chanted “ceasefire now” referring to the war in Palestine. After a recess, he council returned to resume the meeting announcing they had clearing the meeting in compliance with the Brown Act allowing them to do so when it is not possible to maintain decorum. (Voice of OC, December 20, 2023, by Brandon Pho)
A Superior Court judge ruled that Californians Aware’s suit against the city of Cypress failed to show the city violated the Brown Act by discussing in closed session changing the voting system. (Event-News-Enterprise, December 14, 2023, by David N. Young)
Though not required by the Brown Act, Santa Barbara is seeking to expand public participation by re-establishing virtual public comment. The city council had scuttled the feature after a number of racist callers used the avenue. (Santa Barbara Independent, December 11, 2023, by Ryan P. Cruz)
The Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price threw a Berkeley journalist out of a press conference on November 29 receiving torrid criticism from FAC and other press freedom advocates. (California Local, December 6, 2023, by Graham Womack)
Chico alleged that a city council member violated the Brown Act by sharing confidential information from a closed session. (Action News Now, December 4, 2023, by Camille Acevedo)
The Santa Monica Police Reform commission was forced to conduct a second vote on a “pretextual stop policy” after its first attempt to adopt the policy went awry for failing to post adequate detail of the policy in the meeting agenda. (Santa Monica LOOKOUT, November 29, 2023, by Jorge Casuso)
A search warrant processed on November 14 targeted a Stockton school district board president suspected of misusing a district credit card. (The Stockton Record, November 28, 2023, by Aaron Leathley and Hannah Workman)
A council woman accused the Vallejo city manager of circumventing the Brown Act when he announced that he was using federal Covid funds to grant city staff members a $3,000 bonus. (Open Vallejo, November 24, 2023, by Geoffrey King)
The ACLU and FAC are suing the City of Fresno for holding budget subcommittee meetings closed to the public. (The San Joaquin Valley Sun, November 16, 2023, by Daniel Gligich)
A director for a San Diego area health care district is challenging the terms of use agreement that blocks access to the district’s web page unless she agrees to observe a number of rules including allowing collection of her personal data, agreeing arbitration of disputes and waiving the right to bring a class action lawsuit against the district. She claims the agreement was never on the agenda of a board meeting. (Courthouse News Service, November 1, 2023, by Sam Ribakoff and Sergio Frez)