EdLawConnect Blog

In the interest of protecting the integrity of confidential information discussed during closed session, the Legislature enacted Government Code section 54963 as part of the Brown Act. This section prohibits board members from disclosing confidential information that has been acquired by being present in closed session to a person not entitled to receive it, unless the board authorizes disclosure.

On January 19, 2016, the California Attorney General issued Opinion No. 14-1203, which concluded the Brown Act’s online agenda-posting requirement for regular meetings is not necessarily violated if the local agency’s website experiences technical difficulties (e.g., power failure, cyber-attack, or other third-party interference) that cause the agenda to become inaccessible to the public for a ...

Meetings of school boards, city councils, county boards of supervisors, community college boards and other “legislative bodies” are open to the public, with minor exceptions, under the Ralph M. Brown Act. Members of the public have access to these meetings and may use them as a forum to criticize the work of the legislative bodies. The law protects this type of criticism as a constitutional right.  But what ...

In 1979, California voters added section 6 to Article 13B of the State Constitution, which specifies that if the state imposes any “new program or higher level of service” on any local government (including a school district), the state must reimburse the locality for the costs of the program or increased level of service. (Clovis Unified School District v. Chiang (2010) 188 Cal.App.4th 794, 798-799 ...

On June 27, 2012, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 1464, the Budget Act of 2012 (“Budget Act”), and the Education Finance Budget Trailer Bill, Senate Bill 1016 (“Trailer Bill”). The Budget Act included a suspension of mandates concerning a body of law that is near and dear to the heart of public agencies, the Brown Act.

The Brown Act requires legislative bodies to prepare and post an agenda ...