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open meetings

Los Angeles City Council flirts with open meeting violation in battle over ban on marijuana dispensaries

donal brown May 21, 2012

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    

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California: Palo Alto board of education accused of violating open meeting law with confidential memos

donal brown May 18, 2012

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

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California: Orange County water district drops closed session on negotiations with desal company

donal brown May 15, 2012

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

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California’s open meeting law allows memos from superintendents to school board with some caveats

donal brown May 10, 2012

Customary weekly memos from superintendents to school board members does not necessarily violate the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, provided that the memos avoid relaying the policy positions of board members, writes James Scot Yarnell in a legal analysis for Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo. -db From an analysis for the law corporation, Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, May 8, 2012, by James Scot Yarnell. Full story

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