Amended in Assembly April 20, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 951

Introduced by Assembly Member Wilk

February 26, 2015

An act to begin delete amend Section 54954 of the Government Code, end delete begin insert add Article 10 (commencing with Section 4859) to Chapter 3 of Part 3 of Division 5 of the Health and Safety Code, end insert relating to local government.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 951, as amended, Wilk. begin delete Local agencies. end delete begin insert Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District. end insert

begin insert The County Sanitation District Act provides for the formation of county sanitation districts. end insert Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires the regular and special meetings of a legislative body to be held within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, except that the local agency may meet begin insert in the closest meeting facility if it has no meeting facility within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, or end insert at its principal office if that office is located outside the territory over which the begin insert local end insert agency exercises jurisdiction.

This bill begin delete would, notwithstanding the end delete begin insert would prohibit the end insert exception described begin delete above, require end delete begin insert above from applying to end insert the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation begin delete District to meet in Santa Clarita. end delete begin insert District. end insert By imposing new duties on the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute.

The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

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

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

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Article 10 (commencing with Section 4859) is
added to Chapter 3 of Part 3 of Division 5 of the end insert begin insert Health and Safety
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

 

Article begin insert 10. end insert   Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District

 

begin insert 4859. end insert   

(a) Paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 54954
of the Government Code does not apply to the regular and special
meetings of the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District.

(b) For purposes of this section, “meetings” has the same
definition as that term is defined in Section 54952.2 of the
Government Code.

end insert

begin delete

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 that 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, a 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 that has
members throughout the state may meet at any facility in the state
that 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 body, or his
or her designee, 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.

(f) Notwithstanding paragraph (4) of subdivision (b), all regular
and special meetings of the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District
shall be held in Santa Clarita.

end delete

SEC. 2.  

The Legislature finds and declares that a special law
is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
Constitution because of the need to hold meetings of the Santa
Clarita Valley Sanitation District in a location begin delete in Santa Clarita end delete
begin insert within the bounderies of the territory over which the district
exercises jurisdiction end insert instead of at the principal office of the
district, which is over fifty miles away.

SEC. 3.  

The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of
this act, which amends Section 54954 of the Government Code,
furthers, within the meaning of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b)
of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution, the purposes
of that constitutional section as it relates to the right of public
access to the meetings of local public bodies or the writings of
local public officials and local agencies. Pursuant to paragraph (7)
of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California
Constitution, the Legislature makes the following findings:

Because of the need to hold meetings of the Santa Clarita Valley
Sanitation District in a location begin delete in Santa Clarita end delete begin insert within the
bounderies of the territory over which the district exercises
jurisdiction end insert instead of at the principal office of the district, which
is over fifty miles away, this act would further the purpose of
Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution.

SEC. 4.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district under this act would result from a legislative mandate that
is within the scope of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section
3 of Article I of the California Constitution.