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Attorney briefs commission on Brown Act: avoid serial meetings, social-media deliberations and ensure clear agenda descriptions
Summary
An attorney delivered Brown Act training, emphasizing that a majority meeting to deliberate must be noticed, serial communications can violate the law, social-media reactions by a majority about city business can constitute a violation, and that agendas must describe actions clearly (72/24-hour notice rules).
Laura, a legal trainer, told the commission that all meetings of a legislative body generally must be open and noticed under the Brown Act and reviewed practical examples of what constitutes a "meeting." She said the law is intended to prevent undisclosed deliberations and to allow public participation.
"All meetings of the legislative body of a local agency shall be open in public, and all persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting of the legislative body of a local agency except as otherwise provided in this chapter," Laura said, citing the Brown Act’s core principle and the statute’s origin in the Ralph M. Brown legislation.
She explained key points commissioners should watch for: a quorum of members meeting together to hear, discuss or take action is a meeting; serial or daisy-chain communications that effectively create deliberation among a majority can violate the Act; and a majority of members using social media to discuss or react to the same city business (including comments or emojis) can constitute an unlawful deliberation.
"It's illegal for a majority of the members of a legislative body to use social media to discuss among themselves business of a specific nature that is within their subject matter jurisdiction," Laura said.
The trainer described permissible staff briefings but cautioned that staff cannot be used to collect and disseminate members’ private views in a way that produces collective deliberation outside a noticed meeting. She reviewed agenda-notice requirements (regular meetings: 72-hour notice; special meetings: 24-hour notice) and said agenda titles must give the public enough information about the action to be taken. She also reviewed remedies for violations, including the ability to "cure" by re-taking an action at a properly noticed meeting.
Laura noted an upcoming amendment affecting teleconferencing procedures scheduled to take effect in July 2026 and reminded commissioners that membership training (ethics/Brown Act) is required on a recurring basis. During Q&A, commissioners asked whether sending the same email individually to multiple members would violate the Act; the presenter answered that such serial emailing can create a violation when the content relates to city business within the group's jurisdiction.
Questions and follow-ups
Commissioners asked how to handle emails and whether the training satisfied mandatory periodic training requirements; Laura said the statutory ethics training requirement remains and that the periodic online ethics session is separate from this presentation.
What to do next: The commission received the briefing and will ensure members complete required periodic training and apply the Brown Act guidance to agenda planning and intermember communications.
