California Municipal Law Blog
by Scott E. Huber on September 11, 2016
posted in
Ethics,
The California Attorney General issued an opinion related to the rights of Joint Powers Authority (JPA) voting members which likely affects all JPAs throughout California. The question arose where a member of the board of directors was required to recuse himself from voting on an issue because of a conflict of interest.
The subject of this particular opinion was the Metropolitan Water District (MWD), which is comprised of 26 individual agencies or municipalities. Some of these member agencies are allotted more than one seat on the board of directors. Those agencies, for example the City of Los ... Continue Reading
tags:
Attorney General, conflicts of interest, joint powers authorities, voting members,
by Derek P. Cole on August 23, 2016
posted in
Legislative Updates, Meetings, Uncategorised,
On August 23, 2016, Governor Brown signed SB 1436 (Bates), which mandates that local agencies report out certain information before changing the compensation or benefits of their “executives.” Under this new law, legislative bodies (e.g., city councils, boards of supervisors, or boards of directors) for agencies must “orally report a summary of a recommendation” for changes in salaries or benefits before voting for the changes. The votes must then take place in the open session portions of their meetings.
SB 1436 is part of an evolving trend toward requiring greater transparency concerning ... Continue Reading
tags:
city of bell, closed session, executive compensation, open session, oral report, Public meetings, sb 1436,
by Derek P. Cole on August 15, 2016
posted in
Meetings, Recent Court Decisions,
When a person raises an issue not on a meeting agenda, how much can council or board members discuss the issue without running afoul of the Brown Act? A recent court case provides some helpful guidance.
In Cruz v. Culver City, a California appellate court held that a six-minute discussion about how to place an item on a future agenda did not violate the Brown Act. Fortunately for local agencies, the court rejected a challenge to the discussion that had relied on a hyper-technical reading of the Act’s language.
... Continue Reading
tags:
Agendas, Brown Act, Discussion on Unagendized Items,
by Derek P. Cole on August 1, 2016
posted in
Public Records Act,
In its July 25, 2016 edition, the Daily Journal published our article, Making Effective Public Records Requests. The article discusses city attorney Derek Cole’s perspective on how to streamline the records-request process and obtain records more quickly. A link to the article is here: Making Effective Records Requests Article
... Continue Reading
tags:
California Public Records Act, Records Requests,
by Karen A. Feld on July 27, 2016
posted in
Legislative Updates,
Governor Brown signed SB 1255 on July 25, 2016 which becomes effective on January 1, 2017. The law overturns a controversial decision by the California Supreme Court in 2015 which re-set the date of separation in family law.
Traditionally, when a marriage dissolved, the parties moved out of the shared residence and into their own places. Over time, this began to change, particularly with the advent of the recession. People realized that if they could co-exist in the home, they could live more cheaply and more easily co-parent their children, even while considering the marriage to be dissolved. ... Continue Reading
tags:
California Supreme Court, Family Law, Governor Brown, Marriage of Davis, New Legislation, Separation,
