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Asked and Answered

Brown Act or Bylaws Violation?

January 3, 2011

Question

If a standing committee’s bylaws stipulate that two meetings will occur in a certain period of time, and there is no quorum present for one of the two meetings, is the committee obligated to schedule another meeting to remain Brown Act compliant?

Answer

This might be an overly technical response, but I’m not sure violating a committee’s own bylaws by failing to hold the specified number of meetings would be a Brown Act violation.

In other words, it sounds like the question is not whether the committee needs to hold another meeting to comply with the Brown Act but rather whether it needs to do so in order to comply with its own bylaws.

In that case, the question might boil down to other provisions of the bylaws (e.g., what happens when they are violated) and how feasible it is to hold another meeting.

Holme Roberts & Owen LLP is general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition and responds to First Amendment Coalition hotline inquiries. In responding to these inquiries, we can give general information regarding open government and speech issues but cannot provide specific legal advice or representation.

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