California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 951

Introduced by Assembly Member Wilk

February 26, 2015

An act to amend Section 54954 of the Government Code, relating to local government.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 951, as introduced, Wilk. Local agencies.

Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires the legislative body of a local agency to provide the time and place for holding regular meetings of the legislative body.

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this law.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 54954 of the Government Code is
amended to read:

54954.  

(a) Each legislative body of a local agency, except for
advisory committees or standing committees, shall provide, by
ordinance, resolution, bylaws, or by whatever other rule is required
for the conduct of business by that body, the time and place for
holding regular meetings. Meetings of advisory committees or
standing committees, for which an agenda is posted at least 72
hours in advance of the meeting pursuant to subdivision (a) of
Section 54954.2, shall be considered for purposes of this chapter
as regular meetings of the legislative body.

(b) Regular and special meetings of the legislative body shall
be held within the boundaries of the territory over which the local
agency exercises jurisdiction, except to do any of the following:

(1) Comply with state or federal law or court order, or attend a
judicial or administrative proceeding to which the local agency is
a party.

(2) Inspect real or personal property begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert cannot be
conveniently brought within the boundaries of the territory over
which the local agency exercises jurisdiction provided that the
topic of the meeting is limited to items directly related to the real
or personal property.

(3) Participate in meetings or discussions of multiagency
significance that are outside the boundaries of a local agency’s
jurisdiction. However, begin delete any end delete begin insert a end insert meeting or discussion held pursuant
to this subdivision shall take place within the jurisdiction of one
of the participating local agencies and be noticed by all
participating agencies as provided for in this chapter.

(4) Meet in the closest meeting facility if the local agency has
no meeting facility within the boundaries of the territory over
which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, or at the principal
office of the local agency if that office is located outside the
territory over which the agency exercises jurisdiction.

(5) Meet outside their immediate jurisdiction with elected or
appointed officials of the United States or the State of California
when a local meeting would be impractical, solely to discuss a
legislative or regulatory issue affecting the local agency and over
which the federal or state officials have jurisdiction.

(6) Meet outside their immediate jurisdiction if the meeting
takes place in or nearby a facility owned by the agency, provided
that the topic of the meeting is limited to items directly related to
the facility.

(7) Visit the office of the local agency’s legal counsel for a
closed session on pending litigation held pursuant to Section
54956.9, when to do so would reduce legal fees or costs.

(c) Meetings of the governing board of a school district shall
be held within the district, except under the circumstances
enumerated in subdivision (b), or to do any of the following:

(1) Attend a conference on nonadversarial collective bargaining
techniques.

(2) Interview members of the public residing in another district
with reference to the trustees’ potential employment of an applicant
for the position of the superintendent of the district.

(3) Interview a potential employee from another district.

(d) Meetings of a joint powers authority shall occur within the
territory of at least one of its member agencies, or as provided in
subdivision (b). However, a joint powers authority begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert has
members throughout the state may meet at any facility in the state
begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert complies with the requirements of Section 54961.

(e) If, by reason of fire, flood, earthquake, or other emergency,
it shall be unsafe to meet in the place designated, the meetings
shall be held for the duration of the emergency at the place
designated by the presiding officer of the legislative begin delete body end delete begin insert body, end insert
or his or her begin delete designee end delete begin insert designee, end insert in a notice to the local media that
have requested notice pursuant to Section 54956, by the most rapid
means of communication available at the time.