BILL NUMBER: AB 1736	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Smyth

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2012

   An act to amend Section 54950 of the Government Code, relating to
local government.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1736, as introduced, Smyth. Local government: open meetings.
   The Ralph M. Brown Act requires each legislative body of a local
agency to provide the time and place for holding regular meetings and
requires that all meetings of a legislative body be open and public
and all persons be permitted to attend unless a closed session is
authorized. The act makes a statement of intent in this regard.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
provisions.
   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 54950 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
   54950.  In enacting this chapter, the Legislature finds and
declares that the public commissions, boards and councils  ,
 and the other public agencies in this  State 
 state  exist to aid in the conduct of the people's
business. It is the intent of the law that their actions be taken
openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly.
   The people of this  State   state  do
not yield their sovereignty to the agencies  which 
 that  serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do
not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for
the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people
insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the
instruments they have created.