HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 1993 0203 CC REG ITEM 08JSTANLEY C. HATCH
GERALD B. PARENT
S. TIMOTHY BUYNAK. JR
SUSAN F. PETROVICH
PETER N. BROWN
STANLEY M. RODEN
THOMAS D. WISE
SCOTT S. SLATER
STEVEN A. AMERIKANER
GARY M. KVISTAD
CHRISTOPHER A JACOBS
BRUCE R. HOFFMAN
COLIN L. PEARCE
JEFFREY A. DINKINt
LINDA D. MCCLURE
KELLY G MCINTYRE
KERRY DON ALEXANDER
LORI LEWIS PERRY
is" JAN 2 sM .
LAW OFFICE'S
HATCH AND PARENT
A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION
21 EAST CARRILLO STREET
SANTA BARBARA. CALIFORNIA 93101.2782
January 21, 1993
Cheryl Kane
City Attorney
799 Moorpark Avenue
Moorpark, CA 93021
City of FLEP.ONE
(8051 963 -9231
MAILING ADDRESS
P05T OFFICE DRAWER 720
SANTA BARBARA, CA 93102-0720
FACSIMILE
(a 051 96S -4333
MOOPPAPK, c � I
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Re: Freedom Newspapers v. Board of Directors
Civil No. 8029178 (Fourth District G011490)
Dear Colleague:
The purpose of this letter is to request that you
join in an Amicus Brief in the above - referenced case, which our
office has agreed to prepare at the request of the League of
California Cities Legal Advocacy Committee.
This case interprets the less - than -a- quorum exception
to the Ralph M. Brown Act. The public agency involved in the
case is the nine - member Orange County Employees' Retirement
System Board of Directors. A four member committee of the
board had excluded the local newspaper from meeting on the
board's travel policy; the newspaper sued.
The Board defended its actions by relying on
California Government Code section 54952.3. This section
provides that, as a general rule, advisory committees of local
agencies are legislative bodies subject to the provisions of
the Brown Act. However, section 54952.3 contains an express
exception to this rule, which states "'Legislative body,' as
defined in this section, does not include a committee composed
solely of members of the governing board of a local agency
which are less than a quorum of such governing body." The
committee determined that its meeting was exempt from the Brown
Act, since the committee fell within this exception. The trial
court agreed.
The Court of Appeal reversed. (9 Cal.App.4th 134 [11
Cal.Rptr.2nd 488].) The Court of Appeal's decision relies on a
preceding section of the Brown Act, Government Section 54952.
City Attorney
January 21, 1993
Page 3
The City of joins the
Amicus Brief in Freedom Newspapers v. Board of Directors of the
Orange County Employees' Retirement System.
City Attorney
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