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Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Serial Meetings

I'm an education reporter, and have been covering local school boards for years. I need to clarify the term Serial Meeting. Can two board members meet to talk about issues in general -- frustrations, general strategies, how to counter personal attacks -- and then have one of them meet with a third board member to […]

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Closed door meetings benefitted labor union at cost of public tidelands

[…] business that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body." Govt. Code § 54952.2 (emphasis added) . The Attorney General takes the position that a serial meeting, in violation of section 54952.2(b), may occur where there is a chain of communications (A communicates with B, B communicates with C, and so on), and/or […]

November 15, 2011
Asked and Answered

Brown Act CPRA

Access to City Manager’s compensation denied

[…] form. With respect to the email communications between the three directors, violations of the Brown Act would be implicated here if the directors somehow created a " serial meeting" through communications with each other. Under the Brown Act, a "meeting" includes any congregation of a majority of the members of a legislative body at the […]

July 28, 2011
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Does the Brown Act apply when board members attend a Town Hall meeting?

At a recent Town Hall meeting, water rates were discussed. A majority of directors of the water district were in attendance to answer any questions. They did not notice this meeting. Items were discussed that they will vote on. Is this a Brown Act violation?

December 29, 2011
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Minutes of City Council meetings don’t tell whole story

[…] to items on its agenda and powerpoint presentations related to agenda items. The council offers a limited number of copies of this information at the city clerk’s desk on the night of the meeting but it is not reflected in the minutes or available anywhere after the meeting’s conclusion. What is the law regarding this?

March 7, 2014
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Criteria for Serial Meeting

Our former Mayor was involved in trying to develop a clandestine consensus to support his successor. Two councilmembers have said that the Mayor spoke about his support of his replacement, including the replacement himself, outside of a public meeting. We suspect a third, who often sides with the Mayor, was also consulted about who the […]

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Serial Meetings

The question: Does the below discussion of their previous individual discussions constitute a serial meeting violation under the Brown Act? Member A left his council seat to become mayor, leaving the two-year remainder of his council term open. Member B and C were newly appointed to the council – they were council members ELECT at […]

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

Brown Act CPRA

Emails and the Public Record and Brown Act

[…] exception appears to be to protect the constitutional rights of individuals to contact their government representatives regarding issues which concern them. To harmonize this exemption with the serial meeting prohibition, the term "any other person" is construed to mean any person other than a board member or agency employee. Thus, while this provision exempts from […]

June 14, 2009
Asked and Answered

Brown Act CPRA

Board Conducting Public’s Business Via Private Emails

The answer to your question is rooted in what constitutes a " serial meeting," which is prohibited under the Brown Act.The Brown Act "serves to facilitate public participation in all phases of local government decision-making and to curb misuse of the democratic process by secret legislation of public bodies." Epstein v. Hollywood Entertainment Dist. II […]

June 24, 2010
Asked and Answered

Brown Act

Does Brown Act allow vote to be changed after a meeting adjourns?

[…] communicate with each other through other means on a particular topic, such as email or through an intermediary, this can also constitute what’s known as a " serial meeting" that would be subject to (or, more appropriately, in violation of) the Brown Act. Gov’t Code 54952.2(b). With the situation you describe, let’s say that within […]

July 10, 2017