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
The Montebello City Council may have violated the Brown Act, California’s open government law, when they allegedly discouraged public participation leading up to a November 16 city council meeting. -DB
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
December 17, 2009
By Thomas Himes
MONTEBELLO, Calif. – The District Attorney’s Office is investigating allegations that a special meeting of the City Council violated [...]
With 14 ad hoc committees, one four years old, the Highland City Council is needlessly conducting vast amounts of the people’s business behind closed doors, says an editorial in the Highland Community News. -DB
Highland Community News
Editorial
December 17, 2009
Ad hoc committees can serve a very useful purpose.
Operating out of public view, they can sometimes work out [...]
The Gilroy City Council met in closed session to decide what to do on about a pot dispensary operating without a license thereby botching their attempt to gain a preliminary injunction to close down the dispensary.-DB
Gilroy Dispatch
Editorial
December 17, 2009
Spanked. That’s what the city of Gilroy got in court Tuesday when seeking a preliminary injunction to [...]
The Huntington Beach visitors’ bureau is facing a suit over their failure to tell the public how much taxpayer money they spent on a legal dispute over a T-shirt. The bureau engaged a souvenir shop in Santa Cruz in a battle over the marketing of the shirt reading “Surf City USA” which Huntington Beach claims [...]
The California Judicial Council approved a new Rule of Court this week giving the public a right of access to administrative records of Superior and Appellate courts and the Administrative Office of the Courts. The rule will be in effect January of next year and is modeled after the California Public Records Act. -DB
Legislative Bulletin
California [...]
California’s Fair Political Practices Commission fined a number of political candidates and committees for among other things failing to report contributions and expenses. -DB
Courthouse News Service
December 15, 2009
By Elizabeth Banicki
California political candidates, commissioners and committees were fined from $200 to more than $100,000 for campaign reporting violations, including failing to report contributions and expenses, making [...]
White House computer technicians discovered 22 million e-mails lost during the Bush administration. Two groups had filed Freedom of Information Act requests for the e-mails in connection to the firing of U.S. attorneys and the Valerie Plame-CIA scandal. -DB
Wired
December 14, 2009
By Kim Zetter
White House computer technicians have found 22 million e-mails that were believed to [...]
An editorial in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal defends the Texas Open Meetings Act currently under attack in Texas courts and the legislature -DB
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Editorial
December 11, 2009
Foes of open government are trying to turn back the clock on transparency and accountability in a two-prong attack on the Texas Open Meetings Act. They should be thwarted at every [...]
A group of Ventura citizens is asking the Grand Jury to investigate whether the city deliberately withheld information that showed there was sufficient money to keep the H.P. Wright Library open. The citizens also claim the city violated the Brown Act, the state’s open government law. -DB
Ventura County Reporter
December 10, 2009
By Paul Sisolak
After a sit-in [...]
An open government activist has alleged that the Claremont Unified School District violated the Brown Act in firing a school nurse in a closed meeting without allowing her supporters to speak on her behalf. -DB
Contra Costa Times
December 5, 2009
By Wes Woods II
CLAREMONT – Open government activist Richard McKee has asked the Claremont Unified School District to [...]
To avoid charges of violating the Brown Act, the Inyo County Board of Supervisors voted to shut down the Klondike Lake Subcommitee whose meeting have been closed to the public. -DB
Sierra Wave
November 24, 2009
By Benett Kessler
The Inyo Supervisors got the Klondike Lake issue off their backs Tuesday, stating they didn’t want to face misdemeanor charges for [...]
Under California law, government agencies have ten days to fulfill public information requests, but as of last week, in response to a citizen’s inquiry, the Glendale Unified School District has not supplied full records of employees who make more than $100,000. -DB
Glendale News Press
November 23, 2009
By Max Zimbert
GLENDALE — Brian Ellis’ months-long quest for a [...]
The Orange County treasurer is recommending a Joint Powers Agreement between the county and city of Costa Mesa to buy the Orange County Fairground as the best way to guarantee transparency under the Brown Act and satisfy community concerns. -DB
Daily Pilot
November 20, 2009
By Mona Shadia
Orange County Treasurer Chriss Street is recommending that the county enter into [...]
Anchorage Daily News editor Paul Jenkins says that the refusal to release the Palin’s administration’s e-mails in a timely fashion is only the most recent attempt by the Alaska state government to withhold records from the public in defiance of the state’s public records law. -DB
Anchorage Daily News
Opinion
November 14, 2009
By Paul Jenkins
Alaska state government is [...]
A Superior Court judge ruled that the Santa Ynez Valley School District’s Board of Education did not violate the Brown Act in 2008 when it failed to publicly disclose charges against a popular high school principal in an open meeting even though the principal himself aired the issues in a public meeting. -DB
Santa Maria Times
November [...]
After two parents filed a complaint the Alisal Union School District board had denied parental participation, the board called a special meeting at 1 p.m. to revote on a meeting agenda. One resident was not impressed since she said few could attend a meeting at 1 p.m. -DB
The Californian.com
November 17, 2009
By Maria Ines Zamudio
In less than [...]
After failing to put up for public discussion all details of a compensation package for a new fire chief, the Oroville City Council will correct the Brown Act violation by considering the package in an open meeting. -DB
Oroville Mercury-Register
November 15, 2009
By Mary Weston
OROVILLE, Calif. — The City Council has an item to cure and correct [...]
Associated Student Government President Steve Macias was back in office when backers of the nullified recall violated the Brown Act by not posting the time and location of a meeting to organize the recall election. Macias was the target of the recall for refusing administration orders to ask a pro-life group to leave campus during Constitution [...]
The Redding Record Searchlight has asked the county superior court to release documents on alleged mismanagement and misconduct by an ex-fire chief. The chief resigned last July. -DB
Redding Record Searchlight
November 10, 2009
By Jim Schultz
The Record Searchlight on Monday sued the Anderson Fire Protection District to obtain an investigator’s report on the conduct of its former [...]
Six public Fair Board members are said to be forming a private nonprofit to buy the Fairgrounds. Orange County Register columnist Frank Mickadeit says that the six board members want closed meetings to discuss the issue, a move that he says would make the public even move suspicious of the private nonprofit. -DB
The Orange County [...]
Many California county health officials are discounting arguments that it is in the public interest to know who died from swine flu and refusing to release the records to journalism students from University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism. In denying the requests, officials cite privacy issues and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability [...]
Butte County District Attorney agreed with a citizen who said the Oroville City council violated the Brown Act, California’s open government law, when it appointed a fire chief and approved free rent and the use of a city car on weekends in closed session last August and failed to report the rent and car benefits. [...]
In response to allegations of Brown Act violations from CalAware, an open government advocacy group, the West Covina School District is asking for more details about the allegations. The allegations concerned inadequate notice of meetings, failure to convene open meetings after closed sessions and not reporting actions from the closed sessions. -DB
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
November 5, [...]
A Modesto Bee editorial alleged that the Hughson City Council had decided to hire a temporary city manager before the meeting to make the move, a violation of the California open meeting laws. -DB
The Modesto Bee
Editorial
November 9, 2009
We encourage Hughson residents to show up at tonight’s City Council meeting and ask some hard questions.
At a special [...]
In a surprise move, developers of the Lake Luciana golf course proposal are requesting that the county supervisors drop a rehearing and vote on the proposal even after the developers sued the county following a 3-2 vote in June to reject the proposal. The suit had charged that the county conducted a biased hearing and [...]
A Lake County reporter argues that allowing citizens unlimited time to speak at public meetings is detrimental. She says that putting time limits on speakers will force them to make cogent arguments thus making their arguments more effective and strengthening democratic processes. -DB
Lake County Record-Bee
Commentary
October 28, 2009
By Katy Sweeny
In “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” James Stewart [...]
Frustration mounts over the crucial overhaul of California’s water system as the legislature worked for weeks behind closed doors to develop a plan that will be put up for vote before the public has time to examine and discuss it. -DB
San Francisco Chronicle
October 24, 2009
By Wyatt Buchanan
SACRAMENTO – Leaders at the Capitol say they [...]
The Contra Costa times is suing the Peralta Community College District under the California Public Records Act for records relating to a lucrative no-bid contract awarded to a developer, an associate of the district chancellor. The newspaper is also seeking records of employees punished for allegedly releasing information about the chancellor’s ties to the developer. [...]
A San Jose Mercury News editorial argues that if the police want to build trust between themselves and the community, with reasonable exceptions they need to provide timely public access to records. Disclosure lagged in the case of the police shooting of a mentally ill man with the result that after six months, controversy continues. The editorial [...]
A retired lawyer is suing the San Francisco Ethics Commission for not enforcing open government laws. He claims that since 2004, the sunshine ordinance task force forwarded to the commission 14 cases in which the public has been denied public records but in every case the commission dismissed the claim in favor of the city. [...]
The San Carlos police union is alleging that a city council member violated open meeting laws in making comments in a public meeting about contract negotiations. the comment suggested that the union might be dragging heels on contract talks to see the outcome of a sales tax increase on the November ballot. -DB
San Jose Mercury [...]
After more than a year, the State of Alaska has still not provided former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s e-mails claiming it was not a coverup but simply that massive number of requests had overwhelmed their capacity to comply. Public records in Alaska are supposed to be provided in 10 days. -DB
The Anchorage Daily News
October 8 2009
By Sean [...]
In vetoing SB218 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was for openness and transparency but felt that defining private auxiliary organizations as public under state public records acts would cause the state to lose the support of the organizations when the higher educations institutions were suffering significant budget cuts. In regard to SB 242, the governor said no business [...]
When the Chico City Council approved the appointment of a new fire chief in a closed session August 25, they failed to include in a meeting agenda some perks added to the original contract. A citizen now wants the perks on the agenda in November so that the public could comment. -DB
Chico Enterprise-Record
October 8, 2009
By [...]
Facing a midnight deadline to sign or veto hundreds of bills, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger relented on threats to impose a mass veto over lack of progress on overhauling the state’s water system and signed at least 168 of the bills into law, but two open government and free speech bills were not among the 168. [...]
The policy body of the state’s courts has published for public comment a rule providing right of access to administrative court records. The deadline for comment is October 29. -DB
California Newspaper Publishers Association
October 7, 2009
The Judicial Council, the policymaking body of the state’s courts, has published for public comment a proposed rule of court that [...]
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is holding over 700 bills hostage to gain approval of a water deal with the legislature. Among the 700 bills are four bills that advance the cause of open government and freedom of speech. -DB
California Newspaper Publishers Association
Commentary
October 7, 2009
With the Sunday deadline fast approaching, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed only [...]
FAC’s victory in a lawsuit against Santa Clara County over access to digital mapping data has resulted in the county’s release of the data and payment of $500,000 to FAC’s lawyers, a record-high fee recovery in a California public records case. -DB
San Jose Mercury News
October 7, 2009
By John Woolfolk
Santa Clara County’s move to charge astronomical [...]
Allen Grossman, an open government advocate, has filed suit in San Francisco, charging that the Ethics Commission has suppressed public records regarding their failure to enforce violations of state and local open government laws. -DB
Press Release
October 6, 2009
In a lawsuit filed Monday in the San Francisco Superior Court, Open Government advocate Allen
Grossman charges that the Ethics [...]
An opinion piece in the Redding Record Searchlight suggests that a state law opening the reports of police review boards to the public would
actually reduce suspicion and distrust of police departments and enhance their reputations. -DB
Redding Record Searchlight
Opinion
October 1, 2009
The greatest benefit of such a panel: It would open a window onto the rarely [...]
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