BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 23
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 23 (Smyth)
As Amended April 14, 2011
Majority vote
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 9-0
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|Ayes:|Smyth, Alejo, Bradford, | | |
| |Campos, Davis, Gordon, | | |
| |Hueso, Knight, Norby | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires a member of a legislative body or the clerk
to announce, prior to holding a meeting simultaneously or in
serial order, during a meeting of a legislative body where the
members of the legislative body constitute at least a quorum of
the legislative body of the other meeting, how much compensation
or stipend the members will receive for the second meeting.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a member of a legislative body or the clerk to
announce, prior to holding a meeting simultaneously or in
serial order, during a meeting of a legislative body where the
members of the legislative body constitute at least a quorum
of the legislative body of the other meeting, how much
compensation or stipend the members will receive for the
second meeting.
2)Exempts from these provisions compensation for a community
development commission, a redevelopment agency, and a
redevelopment agency and housing authority.
3)Excludes from the definition of compensation and stipend
actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of
official duties, including reimbursement of expenses related
to travel, meals, and lodging.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires, under the Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act), all
meetings of a legislative body of a local agency be open and
public and all persons be permitted to attend unless a closed
session is authorized.
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2)Defines, for purposes of the Brown Act, local agency to mean a
county, city, whether general law or chartered, city and
county, town, school district, municipal corporation,
district, political subdivision, or any board, commission or
agency thereof, or other local public agency.
3)Defines, for purposes of the Brown Act, meeting to mean any
congregation of a majority
of the members of a legislative body at the same time and
location, including teleconference, to hear, discuss,
deliberate, or take action on any item that is within the
subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : The Brown Act requires the meetings of local
governments' legislative bodies to be "open and public," thereby
ensuring people's access to information so they may retain
control over the public agencies that serve them. The Brown Act
also requires legislative bodies to establish the time and place
of regular meetings by adopting an ordinance, resolution, bylaw,
or rule.
Frequently, the legislative body of a city or county also serves
as the legislative body for other municipal legislative bodies,
such as the Board of Trustees for the library and the planning
commission. In the case of the City of Bell, the members of the
city council collected additional compensation for serving on
the Surplus Property Authority and Public Financing Authority,
receiving a stipend as high as $18,895.80 a year for serving on
just one of these commissions. So while the base salary for
each City of Bell city councilmember was $1,800 a year, by
serving on multiple city commissions and boards, these city
councilmembers' salaries jumped to nearly $100,000 a year.
Also, the City of Bell councilmembers frequently would hold the
meetings for these other boards and commissions simultaneously
as city council meetings. Other times the other commission and
board meetings would be convened for just one minute, but the
city councilmembers would collect the full amount of their pay
for that meeting. For instance, meetings for four City of Bell
commissions and boards were held simultaneously for a total of
one minute on July 31, 2006, netting those councilmembers a full
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stipend for all four commissions and boards.
According to the author, the Brown Act is silent on simultaneous
meetings and does not prescribe any requirements about holding
simultaneous or serial meetings when a stipend or compensation
is being paid. The author says, by requiring a clerk or member
of the convened legislative body to announce before the start of
a second meeting the compensation each member would receive
would put the public on notice.
This bill exempts from these disclosure requirements for
simultaneous or serial meetings the convening of a meeting for a
community development commission, a redevelopment agency, and a
redevelopment agency and housing authority. The compensation
for these legislative bodies are set by statute and, thus,
controlled by the Legislature. The Legislature may wish to
consider whether it is prudent to not include all commissions,
boards, and agencies under these disclosure provisions
regardless of who establishes compensation levels because the
burden of announcing compensation for these other commissions
and agencies is minimal.
Support arguments: Supporters might argue requiring
compensation and stipends to be publicly announced before
convening a serial or simultaneous meeting increases
accountability and transparency.
Opposition arguments: Opposition might argue there should be no
exceptions when it comes to announcing the compensation or
stipend to be received at serial or simultaneous meetings
because the public should be informed of all forms of
compensation.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Klein Baldwin / L. GOV. /
(916) 319-3958
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