Featured blog from NFOIC Executive Director Kenneth F. Bunting:
COLUMBIA, Mo. — County and school boards, city councils, public commissions and special district governing bodies in the state of California may well continue to hold their meetings in the figurative “sunlight,” as well they should.
[…]
Read More… from With California Brown (Act) out, is government there still in the sunshine?
From Courthouse News Service:
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Times claims in court that a deal to privatize Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was negotiated behind closed doors, and that the Coliseum Commission blew off the newspaper's requests for public records.
[…]
Read More… from Californians Aware and Times sue Coliseum Commission for public records
From SFGate:
California's 59-year-old Ralph M. Brown Act is meant to ensure open and accessible government. These days, it also shows how convoluted the state can be.
[…]
Read More… from Open government at heart of California budget cut
A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week:
Open meeting law needs looser definition
MASSACHUSETTS—At the risk of sounding like a geezer, I want to tell you a little about what it was like reporting on local government before there was such a thing as an open meeting law.
[…]
From SanLuisObispo.com:
The Oceano Community Services District has been warned that it could face litigation unless district officials correct two issues stemming from a meeting earlier this month.
[…]
Read More… from Oceano (Ca.) district warned over alleged violations of open-meeting law
By KENNETH F. BUNTING
COLUMBIA, Mo. — It was so ho-hummedly and matter-of-factly reported that few would sense its importance when reading it.
The district attorney’s office found that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors had clearly—and rather flagrantly—violated the state’s open meetings law when they met with Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown in a secret, closed-door meeting last fall to iron out details for moving thousands of state prison inmates to county jails.
[…]
From L.A. Now:
Los Angeles County supervisors violated the law last fall by holding a closed-door meeting with Gov. Jerry Brown to discuss a plan to shift nonviolent state prisoners to county jail and supervision after release, according to the county district attorney's office.
[…]
Read More… from D.A. finds that L.A. County supervisors violated open meetings law
From KFMB-TV:
The [San Diego] county Board of Supervisors has done an about face on a controversial land development vote, after a [Californians Aware] lawsuit claimed the Board violated California's open meeting law.
A spokesperson confirmed to News 8 that a re-vote will now be taken on rule changes aimed at streamlining land planning and development in San Diego County.
[…]
Read More… from Open government lawsuit forces revote by county supervisors
