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Asked & Answered

A&A: Budget committee meets behind closed doors

FAC September 13, 2011

Q: Our county budget committee meets behind closed doors and keeps no written records of meetings. County staff says it’s OK because the budget committee is an ad hoc committee. They say they can designate ANY committee as an ad hoc committee and meet behind closed doors. A: Government Code section 54952(b) contains the definition of agencies that are covered by the Brown Act: “A commission, committee, board or other body of a local agency,

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A&A: Police refuse request for incident report from peaceful protest

FAC September 9, 2011

Q: In August 2010 myself and three others were passing out Christian prolife materials to clients approaching a Planned Parenthood (PP) clinic. The PP is located in a public commercial strip mall and shares a common parking lot with the other businesses. A private security official threatened us with arrest if we did not move off the parking areas. We were not blocking, or occupying any spaces. We declined and five Sheriff’s deputies eventually arrived.

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A&A: UC keeps extending my records request without providing a reason

FAC September 8, 2011

Q: I have sent the university several PRA Requests in conjunction with my son’s recent death on campus.  The state university responded that they would respond to my request in 10 days. Ten days later I received a letter saying they  they would produce the requested documents on almost a month later.  When the appointed day came, I received no response. I sent an e-mail inquiry, the school responded saying they  they would respond 30

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A&A: Public comment time limit changed without notice

FAC September 7, 2011

Q: At a recent Planning Commission public hearing, we were told in the agenda and online that we would be given up to three minutes to speak. Right before public comments were heard, the chair said we’d be given only two minutes without any explanation. It says in the agenda he can change the time with no cause.  Is this a violation of the Brown Act and what is our remedy? A: As you know,

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A&A:Costs soar for City Council meeting DVDs

FAC September 5, 2011

Q: I know that cities cannot charge for staff time when it comes to making photocopies in public records requests. Does this extend to DVDs as well? It appears we are being charged staff time, so DVDs now cost $18 each. Previously I was able to get them free by bringing in a blank DVD disc, which is of minimal cost to me. I can deal with $5, but $18 per meeting DVD is much

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