Question
Are city councils required to have minutes?
Answer
The Brown Act, the law that governs the extent to which local agencies such as city councils must conduct their meetings in a manner open to the public, does not require that a city council take minutes. The Brown Act only acknowledges that a minute book may kept for closed sessions and that a legislative body may require another legislative body over which it has appointed a majority of the members to keep a minute book. See Govt. Code section 54957.2(a), (b).
That being said, the city council’s own bylaws will typically address whether minutes must be taken.
Bryan Cave LLP is general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition and responds to FAC 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.
Asked & Answered posts should not be relied on as legal advice, and FAC makes no guarantees about their completeness or accuracy. All posts carry a date of publication that readers should take note of in assessing their usefulness, given that laws and interpretations of them may change over time. Posts predating Jan. 1, 2023, that discuss the California Public Records Act may contain statute numbers no longer in use. Please see this page for a table showing how the California Public Records Act has been renumbered.