Sunshine Ordinances in California
Although state law–mainly in the form of the Brown Act and the Public Records Act–governs access rights at the local level, cities and counties are free to enact ordinances that provide GREATER RIGHTS OF ACCESS than state law. These local laws providing extra rights are often referred to as “Sunshine” laws.
At last count, seven local governments in California had enacted such laws: Benicia, Contra Costa County, Milpitas, Oakland, Riverside, San Francisco and Vallejo.
Below are the texts of each of these Sunshine laws. They vary significantly in their methods for strengthening state law access rights. To assist you in understanding what these laws do–and to help you pick and choose among the provisions for a proposed Sunshine law for your own community–we have highlighted the language in the local laws that differs substantively from state law. Focus on the highlighted language.
While the seven listed communities have chosen different paths, CFAC would like to offer for your consideration one strategy that, as yet, has not been pursued or implemented in California. That strategy is as follows:
Instead of drafting new legal rules and standards, simply list the court decisions and statutory amendments that, over the years, have punched the biggest holes in state access protections, and state that these decisions and amendments shall NOT apply in your community.
That way you will achieve huge improvements in access rights, while minimizing uncertainty about the effect of your local law and retaining the predictability and clarity of the existing framework of state statutes–all in a package that can be promoted (accurately!) as merely restoring the Brown Act and the Public Records Act to the forms in which they were originally adopted.–Peter Scheer
In a narrowly tailored decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the public, media and same-sex marriage proponents could not gain access to the videotapes of the trial over Proposition 8. The court said that the trial judge had assured Prop 8 backers that the trial videotape would not be made public, [...]
The Hanford City Council has so far not released an anonymous packet of documents to the public and may never. The documents make allegations against city leaders which the council discussed in closed meetings. Jim Ewert, legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publisher Association, said the council may be on safe ground in denying public [...]
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press did not like a federal appeals decision upholding a law restricting access to Virginia state records by non-residents. The court ruled that the restriction was not unconstitutional. The Reporters Committee felt the court should have considered the effect of the restriction on smaller journalistic enterprises. -db From [...]
An editorial in the Los Angeles Times says the board of supervisors for Los Angeles County “displays its contempt for the public” by closing the door before discussing such vital issues as the shift of convicts from state facilities to the county. The Times argues that the mere wish to speak frankly does not allow [...]
Long Beach and a police officers group are asking an appeals court to overturn a lower court ruling that the city must provide the names of officers involved in shootings. After a controversial shooting of an unarmed man in Long Beach in 2010, the Los Angeles Times asked the city to provide the identities of [...]
A Santa Monica math teacher lost a lawsuit in a California appeals court to keep a sexual harassment complaint against him private. The court found substantial public interest in the release of details of the investigation into a parent’s charge that the teacher sexually harassed his thirteen-year-old daughter. The charge was not fully substantiated. -db [...]
The Rio School District has over half of the 36 complaints about violations of the state’s open meeting law, the Brown Act, according to a report by the district attorney’s office. The office said it might have to take legal action against the district unless they paid greater attention to the issue, perhaps providing training [...]
After tipsters told the Action Alameda News that the Alameda Police Department was trying to cover up a robbery at a restaurant in December of 2011, the newspaper made a public records request on the incident. The police denied that there was a coverup and denied access to 911 tapes saying that they were exempt [...]
The Los Alamitos City Council voted 3-1 to prosecute Councilman Warren Kusumoto for an alleged violation of the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. Kusumoto had disclosed that in closed-door discussions on a lawsuit against the city, he had a different viewpoint from the council majority. The City Attorney said in that disclosure he [...]
A group of citizens has been able to forestall a move by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors to restrict the public in addressing the board. A proposal before the board would limit speakers to three minutes for various items on the agenda and two minutes for items not on the agenda. The board has [...]
A Visalia resident discovered that without public hearing last October, the Visalia City Council approved a $50,000 expense account for its newly appointed Elections Task Force. The city claims it feared a lawsuit so was justified in acting in closed session, but no one was threatening to sue over the creation of the task force. [...]
The lawsuit over closed lunch meetings of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors is going to the California Supreme Court. The suit centered on 30 closed lunch meetings in 2009 during which at least a majority of the supervisors were present. The supervisors claimed they never discussed county business during the lunches. -db From the [...]
California Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco intends to introduce a number of bills in 2012 to give the public greater access to the workings of their government. The bills include SB 1000 keeping the California Public Utilities Commission from withholding information about their regulation of PG&E responsible for a recent catastropic fire and SB [...]
The Anaheim City Attorney is investigating an e-mail sent by a planning department official ordering employees to purge unnecessary records at the risk of disciplinary action. The order came after the Voice of OC filed a California Public Records Act request for communications to and from city council members. -db From the Voice of OC, [...]
A state appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that the City of Montebello did not violate the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, in approving a $3.2 million real estate agreement with a businessman. The Montebello redevelopment agency approved the deal in a closed meeting preceding a public session. -db From the Metropolitan [...]
The increasing numbers of closed door sessions conducted by the Stockton City Council has prompted open government advocates to protest the practice. Under a threat of bankruptcy, the council has met in closed meetings three times for every two open meetings. The council may meet in closed session to discuss certain financial matters, but in [...]
A county judge ruled that four members of the Dunsmuir City Council must defend itself against allegations that they violated the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. A citizen sued the council for alleged conflict of interest and holding meetings without public participation. -db From the Record Searchlight, January 2, 2012, by Sean Longoria. [...]
Under amendments to the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law, government agencies are now required to disclose more details about items under consideration at meetings. The amendments will go into effect, January 1 of 2012. The amendments also require agencies to provide notice in writing to the media of special meetings and notice by telephone [...]
An ex-school board member alleged that the Galt Joint Union Elementary School District board violated the Brown Act, California’s open meeting act by not allowing public comments while conducting public interviews to fill a vacant seat on the board. The board has agreed to repeat the meeting to satisfy the Brown Act. -db From the [...]
In a case brought by the Los Angeles Times, the Pasadena Sun and the Sacramento Bee, a Sacramento Superior Court judge ordered the California Assembly to release budget records under the California Public Records Act. Lawyers for the Assembly did not participate in oral arguments before the judge last week. -db From the Los Angeles [...]
A California appeals court ruled that a man who wanted to find out if he were registered in the Domestic Violence Restraining Order System could not have access under the Information Practices Act of 1977. A judge had earlier ruled that the registry was exempt under the California Public Records Act. -db From the Metropolitan [...]
In a special meeting called to discuss a draft of the general plan, a member of the city council spoke on an item not on the agenda, a possible violation of the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. A council member said the council did not violate the law in that members were allowed [...]
The Pasadena City Council may have blundered when they met recently to discuss job cuts in the face of budget problems. The meeting agenda was posted at 9 p.m. on a Sunday and the meeting began at 8:30 a.m. the next day. A full 24 hour meeting notice is required by the Brown Act, the [...]
A California research group says that government agencies trying to cope with budget shortfalls are resorting to increasing fees for copies of public documents in violation of the state’s Public Records Act. The act prohibits charges for retrieving public records to the costs of duplication. But Sacramento County charges $13 for page 1 and $3 [...]
State Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco will introduce a bill in January to repeal a law requiring a vote of the Pubic Utilities Commission before most records can be released to the public. Yee is sponsoring the bill after allegations that Pacific Gas and Electric was less than forthcoming with documents concerning the pipeline [...]
Jim Ewert of the California Newspaper Publisher Association said that the Patterson City Council violated the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting act, when it failed to provide the identity of those who voted in a closed session for an interim city attorney. Ewert said it did not matter that the rankings of candidates occurred [...]
Without comment a California appeals court reversed an order that the Times-Delta/Advance-Register and allies pay legal costs for Tulare County in a Brown Act suit. The newspaper and others had charged that the Tulare County Board of Supervisors violated the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, by conducting a series of lunch meetings closed [...]
An expert in open government law challenged the Barstow School Board contention that they had not violated the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law, in failing to report a vote out of closed session. The school board was considering the resignation of the school superintendent. -db From the Desert Dispatch, November 21, 2011. by [...]
Because in 2007 Penn State was granted immunity to Pennsylvania’s public records law, the university can keep information out of public reach, but that could change as state legislators question the status quo. Currently the university is under no legal mandate to release records of any transactions concerning the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse except to [...]
Local governments are allowed to conduct public business behind closed doors to discuss a limited range of issues. Carolyn Schuk provides a primer on the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law, in the Santa Clara Weekly. -db From a commentary in the Santa Clara Weekly, November 17, 2011, by Carolyn Schuk. Full story
After losing bid to show the Tulare County Board of Supervisors violated open-meetings law by holding closed lunch meetings, the plaintiffs are asking the California 5th District Court of Appeals to reconsider their ruling. The Court ordered the plantiffs to pay legal costs in ruling the issue moot since the supervisors no longer conducted lunch [...]
Transparency is needed as shown by the examples of LinkedIn, Groupon and Demand Media who claimed to be more profitable than they were before they were forced to show their hand and their actual financial data as they prepared to go public, writes James Temple for the San Francisco Chronicle. Temple opposes the bill introduced [...]
A California appeals court reversed a lower court ruling, holding that a private citizen could enforce a contract calling for open board meetings by corporations receiving government funds. “We believe that the purpose of the provisions requiring compliance with the Brown Act was to ensure that meetings…relating to publicly funded programs would be open to [...]
The 5th District Court of Appeals dismissed an open government suit by an open government advocate challenging closed lunch meetings held for morale-building purposes by the Tulare County Board of Supervisors. The court said that there was no relief since the supervisors had stopped holding the meetings alleged to be violations of the state’s open [...]
Governor Jerry Brown struck a significant blow to transparency in California state government when he shut down www.transparency.ca.gov saying that the information could be found on other sites or obtained through the California Open Records Act. Critics said the shut down makes it more difficult and time consuming to track government sending including the travel [...]
After a federal judge upheld a ruling allowing release of donors to Prop. 8 prohibiting same-sex marriage in California, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay pending appeal of the ruling. -db From the Courthouse News Service, October 24, 2011, by William Dotinga. Full story
A Riverside man claims the bank that employed him fired him for taking an interest in local politics on his own time by attending a public meeting of the City Council to ask about pay of public officials. The former bank vice president said in the meeting he had not made any accusations but said [...]
A federal district judge upheld a state law allowing the release of names of those donating $100 or more to political campaigns. The supporters of Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California wanted to withdraw the information claiming that the donors were at risk. Prop. 8 supporters said they had been harassed, vandalized, and received [...]
With two vacancies on the five-member board, the Palm Drive Hospital board is facing allegations that it violated California’s open meeting laws in meetings involving two directors. Seventy-two hour notice was not provided for meetings to review proposals to join with other hospitals. -db From The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, October 20, 201, by Bob [...]
Citzens backing a plan to widen Highway 1 in Pacifica allege the planning commission violated Brown Act by voting on the issue when it was not on the agenda. The planning commission voted to ask Caltrans to extend the public comment period for the environmental impact report beyond October 22 when it expires. -db From [...]
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