Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Newsletter

October 3, 2003

Re: Brown Act Input Needed

As you may know, Councilmembers Tom LaBonge and Janice Hahn submitted a motion that called for the City of Los Angeles to seek legislation that would amend the Brown Act “to allow board members of primarily advisory bodies to engage in discussions of matters within their purview with a quorum or more of the voting members of their organization, so long as they do not attempt to pre-determine final positions or make decisions prior to a publicly posted or advertised meeting.” It also called for the Brown Act to be amended “to allow informal meetings of a majority of a primarily advisory board’s members without the need to publicly post agendas 72 hours in advance.”

The motion is numbered Council File 03-0002-S98, and it, like other motions, may be read it its entirety, and tracked, by logging on to the city’s Web site at www.lacity.org and going to the Council File Index.

The motion is in the Rules, Elections, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, and may be close to being scheduled. As you also know, you can have agendas for this committee and all others sent to your e-mail in-box using the city’s Early Notification System which too is available through the city’s Web site.

In the past I have asked for input from you regarding specific examples of problems that the Brown Act has created for your Neighborhood Council. I have received only a handful of responses. Once again I am asking for your input so that your information can be included in the official City Council file, and so that the Rules Committee can use it to guide their decision.

If you send your response to me, I will send it unedited to the committee legislative assistant. The members of the committee are Alex Padilla (chair), Wendy Greuel, and Dennis Zine.

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Greg Nelson

213 / 485-1360
866 / LA HELPS toll-free
213 / 485-4608 fax
done@mailbox.lacity.org email
www.lacityneighborhoods.com website