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BROWN ACT: APPLICABLE TO INFORMAL MEETINGS AND DINNERS
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BROWN ACT: APPLICABLE TO INFORMAL MEETINGS AND DINNERS
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1/3/2012 1:31:19 PM
Creation date
7/20/2010 1:36:59 PM
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Legal Opinions
Description
BROWN ACT
Date
2/12/1973
Agency
City Attorney's Office
Notes
OPINION 73-14
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to block evasive techniqu®s. An informal conference <br />or caucus permits crystallization of secret decisions <br />to a point just short of ceremonial acceptanc®. There <br />is rarely any purpose to a non-public pre-meeting con- <br />ference except to conduct som® part of the decisional <br />process behind closed doors. Only by embracing the <br />collective inquiry and discussion stages, as well as <br />the ultimate step of official action, can an open met- <br />ing regulation frustrate these evasive devices. As <br />operative criteria, formality and informality are alien <br />to laws design, exposing it to the very evasions it was <br />designed to prevent. Construed in the light of the Brown <br />Act's objectives, the term "meeting" extends to informal <br />sessions or eonf®r®nees of th® Board members designed <br />for the discussion of public business. The Elks Club <br />luncheon, attend®d by the Sacramento County Board of <br />Supervisors, was such a meeting." <br />Thus, informal dinner m®etings of the City Council where <br />a quorum fa pres®nt, and where the public': business is dis- <br />cussed, are subject to the public notice and public access <br />requirements of the Brown Act. <br />Would the Brown Act be applicabl® to the aforedescribed <br />informal dinner meeting if less than a quorum of the City <br />Council members were present? Generally, no, unless (a) <br />.- those memb®rs present constituting leas than a quorum con- <br />stituted a permanent committ®® appointed by the City Council <br />pursuant to a minute action, resolution, ordinance or charter <br />provision, and (b) those members present actually discussed <br />the public's business. In accord, see 32 Ops. Cal. Atty. <br />Gen. 240 (1958) . <br />The distinction between permanent and non-permanent <br />committees arises by virtue of the addition in 1961 of <br />Section 54952.5 of the Government Code, making the Brown <br />Act applicable to permanent boards or commissions of a local <br />agency. See unpublish®d Attorney General's Opinion I.L. 65-57, <br />and I.L. 68-106. The Attorney General has provided some ex- <br />amples of this distinction such as the situation where the <br />Mayor appoints a non-permanent committee consisting of less <br />than a quorum of th® City Council to study certain city pro- <br />blems. Such a committee, since it was not formed by minute <br />action, resolution, ordinance yr charter provision, would be <br />an "ad hoc" or non-permanent committee and a meeting consisting <br />of less than a quorum of City Council members would not be <br />subject to the Brown Act. See Attorney General's unpublished <br />opinion I.L. 65-57. <br />~6 <br />
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