The State Attorney General narrowed the scope of the real estate negotiation exception to the Brown Act, the open meeting law. The interpretation places higher value on the public’s right to know over local government’s interest in protecting bargaining power in real estate negotiations. -db

From Best Best & Krieger Attorneys at Law, February 3, 2012.

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Debate over the use of iPads by city council members during meetings continues in Petaluma with no consensus as yet.

Some say that it is invaluable in allowing members to gain access to documents, research information and eliminate volumes of paper. Others say that the public may think that the iPads are being used to send and receive messages pertaining to city business in violation of the state’s open meeting law, the Brown Act. -db

From the Petaluma Patch, February 6, 2012, by Karina Ioffee.

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A recent study concluded that use of social media by jurors is infrequent with the implication that the practice is not a growing problem, but Eric P. Robinson, writing for the Citizen Media Law Center, says that the study takes a far too optimistic stance on the issue.

Given the rampant use of the social media by the general public supplying the juror pools and the difficulty of detecting its use by jurors, Robinson argues that the study’s findings are dubious. -db

From a commentary for the Citizen Media Law Center, February 6, 2012 by Eric P. Robinson.

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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, and that pledge had to be respected to maintain the integrity of the justice system. -db

From the San Jose Mercury News, February 2, 2012, by Howard Mintz.

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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 access to the documents but should consider if someone who intends to sue had supplied the documents. In that case disclosure is required under the state’s open meeting law, the Brown Act. -db

From the Hanford Sentinel, February 1, 2012, by Eiji Yamashita.

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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 a commentary by The Reporters Committee  for Freedom of the Press, February 1, 2012.

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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 a public agency to close its doors and the exemption cited for closing the door on the convict issue was passed in the 1970s to allow a government body to discuss how to keep protesters from denying citizens and workers access to public buildings. -db

From an editorial in the Los Angeles Times, January 31, 2012.

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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 officers involved in shootings.

The city contended that the records of shootings were part of personnel files and not for public viewing. The police officers union said the police needed to prevent retaliation against officers who used lethal force in conduct of their duties. -db

From the Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2012, by Victoria Kim.

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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

From the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, January 25, 2012, by Kenneth Ofgang.

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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 for board members. -db

From the Ventura County Star, January 25, 2012, by Cheri Carlson.

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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 under the California Public Records Act. -db

From a commentary in Action Alameda News, January 19, 2012.

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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 had violated the rule against the confidentiality of closed meetings although Kusumoto’s views on the lawsuit were well known in the community. -db

From the Orange County Register, January 18, 2012, by Roxana Kopetman.

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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 also been asked to strengthen rules allowing them to throw disruptive speakers out of the meeting. -db

From the Los Angeles Daily News, January 10, 2012, by Christina Villacorte.

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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. -db

From an editorial in the Visalia Times-Delta, January 9, 2012.

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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 Visalia Times-Delta, January 10, 2012, written by Staff reports.

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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 1001 that would improve the state’s campaign finance and lobbying database. The database has crashed several times in the past and needs updating. -db

From the San Francisco Bay Guardian, January 3, 2012, by Steven T. Jones.

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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, January 4, 2012, by Adam Elmahrek.

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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 News-Enterprise, January 4, 2012, by Kenneth Ofgang.

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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 doing so they close the public out of the discussion and deprive them of a chance to participate in crucial decisions, say the council’s critics. -db

From the Stockton Record, December 27, 2011, by Scott Smith.

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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.

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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 in the case of emergency meetings. -db

From the Ridgecrest Daily Independent, December 20, 2011, by Stephanie Forshee.

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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 Lodi News-Sentinel, December 13, 2011, by Jennifer Bonnett.

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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 Times, December 5, 2011, by Joe Piasecki.

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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 News-Enterprise, December 5, 2011, by a MetNews Staff Writer.

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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 to report briefly on their activities. -db

From Sign On San Diego,  December 1, 2011, by Jonathan Horn.

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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 state’s open meeting law.

From the Pasadena Weekly, December 1, 2011, by André Coleman.

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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 for each page thereafter. -db

From the Courthouse News Service, December 1, 2011.

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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 explosion last year in San Bruno. The PUC , said Yee, failed to regulate PG&E adequately.  -db

From the San Francisco Chronicle, November 30, 2011, by Eric Nalder and Jaxon Van Derbeken.

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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 during a discussion, that the public had the right to know who voted which way since the council reached a consensus. -db

From the Patterson Irrigator, November 30, 2011, by Nick Rappley.

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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 to the public.

The supervisors said the meetings were for morale-building, and a county judge agreed that the plaintiffs did not show that the supervisors violated the Brown Act and ordered the plaintiffs to pay the county’s legal costs. -db

From the Tulare Advance-Register, November 29, 2011, written from staff reports.

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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 Katie Lucia.

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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 law enforcement. -db

From The Patriot-News, November 15, 2011, by Charles Thompson.

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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.

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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 meetings. -db

From the Visalia Times-Delta, November 15, 2011, by David Castellon.

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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 in U.S. senate that would increase the number of shareholders allowed before a company is  forced to provide complete financial data. -db

From a commentary in the San Francisco Chronicle, November 11, 2011, by James Temple.

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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 public and to extend to the general public the right to be informed regarding the matters to be discussed at such meetings and other Brown Act protections,” the appellate judge wrote. -db

From the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, November 14, 2011, by Kenneth Ofgang.

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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 meeting law, the Brown Act. -db

From the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, November 7, 2011, by Kenneth Ofgang.

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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 expense claims of agency officials and governor office employees. -db

From the Sacramento Bee, November 2, 2011, by David Siders.

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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.

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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 that the City Council and city manager could increase public confidence by disclosing their compensation including benefits and other perks. -db

From the Courthouse News Service, October 24, 2011, by Bonnie Barron.

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