BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 751|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 751
Author: Yee (D)
Amended: 5/2/13
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/1/13
AYES: Wolk, Knight, Beall, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Hernandez, Liu
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Meetings: publication of action taken
SOURCE : Orange County Business Council
DIGEST : This bill requires local agencies to publicly report
any action taken and the vote or abstention of each member of a
legislative body.
ANALYSIS : The Ralph M. Brown Act establishes procedures to
ensure public access to information maintained by local agencies
and that the decisions made by public agencies are done in an
open and transparent fashion to retain public control over those
agencies. For closed meetings and meetings conducted by
teleconference, the Brown Act requires local agencies'
legislative bodies to report the votes of individual officials.
These provisions enable the public to be aware of how individual
boards members vote when the vote is not taken in the public's
presence. State law does not require local agencies to report
individual officials' votes that are cast during open meetings.
CONTINUED
SB 751
Page
2
This bill requires local agencies to publicly report any action
taken and to report the individual vote or abstention of each
member present.
Comments
According to the Senate Governance and Finance Committee
analysis, this bill will improve the ability of the public and
others who monitor legislative meetings of local agencies to be
certain of how members voted on an issue when action is taken.
Existing law requires local agencies to report the vote or
abstention of every member present for meetings that are either
closed or for meetings that utilize teleconferencing. But the
law does not require agencies to report the vote of individual
members at other public meetings. When local agencies with many
board members vote on an agenda item, keeping track of who voted
how can be difficult. This bill puts in place reasonable
provisions to improve public accountability by requiring those
agencies to clearly report the vote or abstention of each member
present.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/21/13)
Orange County Business Council (source)
California Newspaper Publishers Association
Common Cause
AB:k 5/21/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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