Search Results

Clear Results
Category
Topic
Select Year

Showing 461 - 470 of 1786 results

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act First Amendment

    City Council allowing presentation not on the agenda

    At our last City Council meeting our mayor personally invited a federal government agent to speak during our public comment session, although this presentation was not on the agenda.  Our mayor allowed him to speak over the allowed three minute time period and  allowed City Council members to ask questions of this man, but […]

    August 24, 2011

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act

    Closed door meetings benefitted labor union at cost of public tidelands

    […] or standing committees of legislative bodies. See Gov’t Code §§ 54952(a) – (b). However, in certain situations, private bodies can also be subject to the Brown Act. Government Code § 54952 indicates that a legislative body includes a private corporation or entity that either: (1) is created by the elected legislative body to exercise […]

    November 15, 2011

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act CPRA

    Water agency contractors’ calculations “trade secret”?

    […] file a formal Public Records Act request in order to demand a copy of the employment contract between the county water agency and the consultant. Pursuant to Government Code § 6254.8, the employment contracts of public employees are expressly a matter of public record. I can’t think of a reason of why this provision […]

    January 16, 2012

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    CPRA request won’t be fulfilled unless we show documents we’ve already received

    […] messages contained on personal devices such as smartphones are subject to disclosure under the Act. The issue was litigated in 2013, and in a trial court victory for government transparency, the judge ruled that the Act applies to government officials’ emails and texts about government business, even if such messages were sent or received using […]

    June 16, 2016

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act CPRA

    Redaction of investigative report

    […] access to meetings and provides exemptions for when meetings may be held in closed session.  Unfortunately there is no section of the Brown Act that requires a government body such as the city council to meet for discussion regarding a particular topic. The Public Record Act governs which government records must be disclosed and […]

    August 12, 2014

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act CPRA

    Are a city manager’ meetings with his staff covered by the Brown Act?

    […] the Public Records Act, including a sample request letter, on the FAC’s website here. 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.

    January 18, 2015

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act First Amendment

    Public right to to speak denied at school board meetings

    […] "limited public forums," or areas that traditionally have not been made open to the public, but have become public forums for at least some purposes because the government body that regulates a particular area has made it available for use by the public. The same high standard that applies to public forums -- the […]

    November 2, 2010

  • Asked and Answered

    CPRA

    Local Agencies’ Request for Qualifications Bids

    […] for Request for Qualifications Bids/responses to be available for the public to review? Can we use legislation in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain developers' responses to an RFQ? The agency is a local government redevelopment agency that has put out an RFQ to developers for the development of the old Army Base.

    June 14, 2009

  • Asked and Answered

    Brown Act

    Internal Decision-Making and the Brown Act

    In general, the Brown Act attempts to balance the right of the public to be aware of the business of its government against the need of government agencies to conduct their business.  The Brown Act therefore is concerned primarily with the openness of meetings, and provides that "[a]ll meetings of the legislative body of […]

    June 14, 2009