California Open Meeting Act
From Sunshine Review
Contents |
Which government meetings are open to the public?
Any meeting held by a public body must be open and public, actions may not be secret, and any action the governmental body takes may be voided. This includes meetings of governmental bodies of non-profits that were formed by public agencies. Members do not need to be face-to-face; the meeting can be through another form of communication.[1]
Many local jurisdictions, including San Francisco, Contra Costa County, and Oakland, have adopted local "Sunshine" provisions that increase the access and openness to the public.
[edit] Meeting process
The governmental body must allow recording and broadcast of meetings, so long as the process of doing so is non-disruptive. They must let the public have access to any recording they took of open meetings, but the agency may destroy the recordings after 30 days.
During regular or committee meetings, the public can address a board that is subject to this act on any item in the agency’s jurisdiction that the agency did not address at an earlier open meeting.
All votes must be public without secret ballots. The governmental body must give access to the public to review documents distributed to all or a majority of members of a board before or at the meeting, unless the documents are exempt under the Public Records Act.
Notice
The governmental body must post notice and an agenda for any regular meeting. When someone requests a mailed notification, the governmental body must get it to them at least three days before regular meetings. The governmental body must post notice of meetings that continue from initial meetings.
If someone requests that they be notified of special meetings, the governmental body must deliver notice of special meetings at least one day in advance. In the event of an emergency meeting, the governmental body must deliver notice at least one hour in advance to those who request it as well as to the media.
[edit] Exceptions
A governmental body may close a meeting if the topics to be discussed are listed as exceptions in this act. They must still give special public notice and share agenda for the closed meeting. All actions taken and all votes in closed session must be publicly reported in writing or orally. They must provide copies of any contracts or settlements approved promptly.
Closed sessions
The only exceptions allowing governmental bodies to close a meeting are:
- To discuss the appointment, employment, performance evaluation, discipline, complaints about or dismissal of a specific employee or potential employee. The employee can request that the meeting be public when charged or when complaints are brought against them. This exception does not include closing a meeting for general employment, independent contractors not functioning as employees, salaries, the performance of any elected official or member of the board, the local agency’s available funds or funding priorities or budget.
- To discuss pending litigation that would otherwise prejudice the position of the agency if the discussion were public. The litigation must be provided on the public notice or announced in an open meeting unless doing this would jeopardize the board's ability to bring the litigation or charges to someone who has not had paper served to them yet or to conclude any current settlement negotiations to the advantage of the governmental body. For this exception to be valid, the governmental body must be one of the parties in the pending litigation, must expect to be sued based on certain specified facts, or expect to file suit.
- To instruct the agency's labor negotiator on compensation issues. (Note: school districts are covered by the Rodda Act, which allows school boards to negotiate directly with the employee organizations, but provides controls that require them to keep the public informed of the issues under discussion).[2]
- To discuss, with the agency's bargaining agent, price or payment terms for real properties. The parcel, negotiators and the prospective seller or purchaser must be identified on the agenda. Final price and payment terms must be disclosed when the actual lease or contract is discussed for approval.
- To license applications for people with criminal records; threats to public services or facilities; insurance pooling.[1]
[edit] If violated
[edit] Relevant legal cases
- See also: Court cases with an impact on state FOIA
Here is a list of open meetings lawsuits in Alabama. For more information go the the page or go to Alabama sunshine lawsuits.
(The cases are listed alphabetically. To order them by year please click the icon to the right of the Year heading)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
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