Last Changed Date
9/15/2003

Title
SUPPORT / BROWN ACT AMENDMENT

Initiated By
LaBonge Mover 2003 / Hahn

Subject
Resolution - WHEREAS, the Ralph M. Brown Act was passed in 1953 to ensure that government decisions are made in the open and that all civic meetings are publicly noticed;
WHEREAS, the Act has been amended numerous times since its enactment, with the basic tenets remaining the same for half a century: early notification of public meeting agendas (&2 hours) and restrictions on discussions between a majority of policy makers to ensure that decisions are made at meetings which the public can attend and not before;
WHEREAS, neighborhood council leaders have expresses growing frustration with the limits that the Brown act places on their ability to communicate with a majority fellow board members and fulfill their Charter requirement to promote public participation in government;
WHEREAS, neighborhood council members are all volunteers who do not receive financial compensation for their efforts, nor are the neighborhood councils themselves powered with any specific authority because they are advisory bodies;
WHEREAS, a recent City Attorney opinion has interpreted the Brown Act to prohibit not only board members conferring with a quorum of members about an issue outside of a public meeting setting, but also communicating outside of the public forum with a majority of the City Council or a Council committee on specific issues;
WHEREAS, there is a compelling and growing need to free neighborhood councils of some of the more cumbersome aspects of the Brown Act that were intended to prevent corruption among elected officials and were never intended to adversely affect advisory, volunteer efforts, such as the City's grassroots-organized neighborhood councils;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, with the concurrence of the Mayor, that by the adoption of this Resolution, the City of Los Angeles hereby includes in its 2003-2004 Legislative Program SUPPORT for legislation that would amend the Ralph M. Brown Act to allow board members of primarily advisory bodies to engage in discussions of matters within their purview with a quorum or more of the voting members of their organization, so long as they do not attempt to pre-determine final positions or make decisions prior to a publicly posted and advertised meeting.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City also support amending the Brown Act to allow informal meetings of a majority of a primarily advisory board's members without the need to publicly post agendas 72 hours in advance.

Date Received
5/20/2003

File History
5-20-03 - This days Council session
5-20-03 - Ref to Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee
5-20-03 - File to Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee Clerk
9-5-03 - Re-referred from Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee to Rules and Elections Committee
9-12-03 - File to Rules and Elections Committee