Government attempts to quarantine leaked classified document by WikiLeaks is under challenge, recently by Guantanamo prisoners who argue that they need access to the documents so they can fashion a defense. -db From a commentary in Secrecy News, May 22, 2012 by Steven Aftergood. Full story
A catastrophic Pacific Gas and Electric 2010 pipeline explosion in San Bruno, CA that killed eight and wiped out 35 homes did not provide sufficient fuel for a transparency measure that required utility regulators to supply investigation orders and accident reports to the public. The bill failed in the state Senate. -db From the Los Angeles Times, May 21, 201. Full story
Tougher stance on pot shops won out during a Los Angeles City Council meeting that raised questions about whether it was a open meeting violation for council members to huddle during a recess. Under California’s open meeting law, the Brown Act, council members must discuss public business in open sessions. -db From a commentary in the LA Weekly, May 17 2012, by Simone Wilson. Full story
The Palo Alto Weekly is asking the Palo Alto schools superintendent to stop sending secret weekly memos to school trustees. The newspaper claims that the memos exclude the public from the deliberative process thus violating California’s open meeting law, the Brown Act. The newspaper cited the state attorney general’s handbook on the Brown Act that warns against using confidential memos. -db From Palo Alto Weekly, May 15, 2012, by Palo Alto Weekly staff. Full story
Amid a dispute over whether negotiations over the price of water from a proposed desalination plant can be held in a closed session, the Municipal Water District of Orange County dropped the item from the agenda of their May 15 meeting. Opponents of the plant raised questions about whether water rights were real property held by the desal company so that negotiations over the rights were exempt from the open meeting requirement under the Brown