Leland Yee
- Democratic
Author
Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act) , requires each legislative body of a local agency to provide the time and place for holding regular meetings and requires that all meetings of a legislative body be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend unless a closed session is authorized. Existing law authorizes the district attorney or any interested person to file an action by mandamus, injunction, or declaratory relief to, among other things, determine the applicability of the act to actions or threatened future actions of the legislative body. This bill would prohibit a district attorney or an interested person from filing an action for an alleged violation of the Brown Act for past actions of a legislative body, unless certain conditions are met, including, but not limited to, a requirement that the district attorney or interested person submit a cease and desist letter to the legislative body being accused of the violation setting forth the alleged violation, and the legislative body has failed to issue an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged past action within 30 days of receiving the letter. The bill would require the unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged past action to meet certain requirements. The bill would require that an action filed to challenge an alleged violation of the Brown Act pursuant to these provisions be dismissed with prejudice if the legislative body enters into an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged past action. The bill would authorize the legislative body to enter into an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged action at any time, unless the plaintiff succeeds in a civil action against the legislative body and is awarded attorney's fees. The bill would provide that if an action filed to challenge an alleged violation of the Brown Act pursuant to these provisions is dismissed with prejudice because the legislative body has entered into an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged action after the 30-day period described above, and if the filing of that action caused the legislative body to enter into the unconditional commitment, then a court shall award costs and reasonable attorney fees to the plaintiff. The bill would require a legislative body that wishes to rescind a commitment to do so by a majority vote of the membership of the legislative body.
Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 732, Statutes of 2012.
Approved by the Governor.
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:30 p.m.
Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 24. Noes 14. Page 4688.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 62. Noes 12. Page 6010.) Ordered to the Senate.
Ordered to third reading.
Read third time and amended. (Page 5895.)
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 27).
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV.
Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 23. Noes 11. Page 3735.) Ordered to the Assembly.
In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 3. Page 3457.) (May 9).
Set for hearing May 9.
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F.
Hearing postponed by committee.
Set for hearing May 2.
Set, second hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F.
Set for hearing April 18.
Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
Set for hearing March 21.
From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 8.
Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.
| Bill Text Versions | Format |
|---|---|
| SB1003 | HTML |
| 02/06/12 - Introduced | |
| 04/11/12 - Amended Senate | |
| 05/03/12 - Amended Senate | |
| 06/19/12 - Amended Assembly | |
| 08/13/12 - Amended Assembly | |
| 08/23/12 - Enrolled | |
| 09/28/12 - Chaptered |
| Document | Format |
|---|---|
| No related documents. |
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