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1®1 <br />BEST BEST & KIRIEGER <br />ATTORNEYS AT LAW <br />violation of the Brown Act are not inherently invalid, absent a court declaration to that <br />effect. (Bollinger v. San Diego Civil Service Comm'n. (1999) 71 Cal.AppAth 568, citing <br />Griswold v. Mt. Diablo Unified Sch. Dist. (1976) 63 Cal.App.3d 648.) <br />DISTRICT ATTORNEY ENFORCEMENT <br />Criminal Prosecution <br />Government Code section 54960 makes it a misdemeanor for any member of a <br />legislative body to attend a meeting where action is taken in violation of the Brown Act <br />and with the intent to deprive the public of information which the member knows or has <br />reason to know the public is entitled to under the Act. <br />Additionally, although the Brown Act does not have a provision like section 91000 <br />making any violation of the Political Reform Act a misdemeanor, the courts and the <br />Attorney General have held that violations of the Brown Act can be pursued as a <br />criminal offense, a misdemeanor, under Government Code section 1222, which <br />provides: "Every willful omission to perform any duty enjoined by law upon any public <br />officer, or person holding any public trust or employment, where no special provision is <br />made for the punishment of such delinquency, is punishable as a misdemeanor." <br />In 76 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 289 (1999), the Attorney General examined whether the <br />public disclosure of information received during a closed session of a legislative body of <br />a local agency (see, Gov. Code § 54963 (prohibiting such disclosure)) could be <br />considered the "willful omission" to perform a "duty enjoined by law" under Government <br />Code section 1222. The Attorney General concluded that disclosure of information in <br />violation of a statute "may be enforced by use of the general criminal sanction set forth <br />in Government Code section 1222." There, the Attorney General relied upon Alder v. <br />City Council (1960) 184 Cal.App.2d 763, where the court declared that when a local <br />public agency holds a meeting in secret in violation of applicable open meeting laws, the <br />This product provided under the Public Policy & Ethics Group Program <br />93939.0020E\31067641.1 -2- <br />