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CITY COUNCIL DELIBERATE IN CLOSED SESSION WHEN EXERCISING A QUASI-JUDICIAL FUNCTION
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CITY COUNCIL DELIBERATE IN CLOSED SESSION WHEN EXERCISING A QUASI-JUDICIAL FUNCTION
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1/3/2012 1:31:20 PM
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Legal Opinions
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CAN CIT6Y COUNCIL DELIBERATE IN SESSION CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC WHEN EXERCISING A QUASI-JUDICIAL FUNCTION
Date
12/4/1972
Agency
City Council
Notes
OPINION 72-31
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~ ,~ <br />OFFICE. OF THE CITY ATTORNEY <br /> <br />OPINION NO. 72-s ~/ <br />DECEMBER 4, 1972 <br />SUBJECT: <br />REQUESTED BY: <br />OPINION BY: James A. Withers, City Attorney <br />'BY: Richard E. Lay, Deputy City Attorney <br />ISSUE: <br />QUESTION: Can the City Council deliberate in session closed <br />to the public when exercising a quasi-judicial <br />function? <br />ANSWER: No. <br /> <br />~,'' <br />ANALYSIS <br />The Brown Act (Government Code § 54950 et seq.) requires that all <br />meetings of the legislative body of a local agency shall be open <br />and public (§54953). The act expressly applies to a chartered <br />city (§54951). The act does not go so far as to.invalidate actions <br />of a legislative body taken in violation of this requirement, but <br />it does make members of the legislative body who participate in <br />such illegal sessions guilty of a misdemeanor. (§54959). <br />The o=nly statutor_y_.exce~tions to the scope of the public session <br />_._ <br />requirement are (1) matters of national securi~, and (2) the <br />intment or dismissa o~`a <br />$P~° ~,,, ., , _ ~_ _~_,<.., _ Pu~~ic officer or employee. (§54957) . <br />The Attorney General~~Fias also established an excention,~~Q~ ._~l~s- <br />ussion of.current_or_pendinq litigation where public discussion <br />would benefit the City's adgersary. (36 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 175 <br />(1960)). <br />There is no authority for excepting from the scope of the Brown <br />Act actions which might be characterized as "judicial" or "quasi- <br />judicial." The term "legislative body" includes the governing <br />body of a city without any distinction as to the function being <br />performed by that body (§§54951, 54952). <br />The Attorney General is also of the opinion that the Brown Act <br />takes within its scope all "informal" sessions, such as briefing <br />sessions. (42 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 61 (1963)). However, it <br />appears by the terms of the Act, that the punitive provisions <br />do not apply unless some action is taken, in the sense of at <br />least a collective agreement to make a positive or negative <br />decision (§54952.6). <br />79 <br />
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