Watchdog Group Launches Petition to Protect Brown Act

A Sacramento-based open government advocacy group launched a petition drive Sunday to amend the California constitution to ensure that municipal meeting agendas continue to be offered to the public.

In June, the state Legislature gave California cities and counties the option of not posting meeting agendas and other reports to save money. This action suspended a key provision of the Brown Act, which requires California cities, counties, school boards and special districts to conduct their meetings openly.

Californians Aware started the petition drive to urge state lawmakers to put a proposition on the state ballot that would require every public body to provide a public notice of its meetings and disclose any action taken.

"Even though the law might not hold public officials accountable for no longer posting agendas or providing adequate descriptions of items on them, angry voters would hold them accountable, and political exposure has always been a far more powerful motivator of Brown Act compliance than legal exposure," stated Californians Aware on its website.

The petition was addressed to California Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and urged him to encourage passage of a bill, SCA 7, that would preserve the Brown Act provisions. The bill remains in limbo in the Assembly Appropriations Committee after the state Senate passed it.

To read more about the petition, click here.