UPDATE, 5 October 2023: since the publication of this article, a more suitable law – the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act – has been found to exist. It has equivalent sections to the Brown Act for the purposes of this article, just with different section numbers, and with expanded abilities to challenge (cure-and-correct is not necessary, and the Attorney General is explicitly also given enforcement powers).
LONG BEACH, California. (OIC) The California State University Board of Trustees, the governance body of one of the largest public university systems in the United States, engaged in severe and pervasive violations of the Ralph M. Brown Act, a cornerstone of California public transparency law that guarantees the right of the public to access open meetings.
On September 12, 2023, thousands of students, faculty members, and workers from the CSU system showed up in Long Beach, California at the CSU Chancellor’s Office to rally and give public comment at the meeting. This was critical, as the next day, the system was set to vote on whether to raise tuition by 6%/year/year, a move which would have severely impacted students.
While some were allowed in to give public comment, most individuals were kept out. They were forcibly separated from the chambers, and not allowed to look inside, by armed police officers employed by the Chancellor’s Office. Hundreds of individuals had lined up outside, ready to give public comment, and were denied the right to even observe the meeting.
There is no excuse for this based on the idea that the room was at maximum capacity; it was reported by Students for Quality Education, Long Beach that over half of the seats in the room were empty.
This constitutes a severe violation of Section 54953(a) of the California Government Code:
All meetings of the legislative body of a local agency shall be open and 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.
California Government Code, section 54953(a) – the “Ralph M. Brown Act”
As such, all actions taken during the meeting could get declared null and void, due to the Board of Trustees’ reckless disregard for the law:
The district attorney or any interested person may commence an action by mandamus or injunction for the purpose of obtaining a judicial determination that an action taken by a legislative body of a local agency in violation of Section 54953, 54954.2, 54954.5, 54954.6, 54956, or 54956.5 is null and void under this section. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent a legislative body from curing or correcting an action challenged pursuant to this section.
California Government Code, section 54960.1(a) – the “Ralph M. Brown Act”
The Open Information Collective has filed a cure and correct letter with the California State University Board of Trustees. It has also made available a template letter for any individual to oppose this Ralph M. Brown Act violation, and has also created a template letter asking the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to pursue their right of action in this case. You can see the instructions on how to use these in the graphic (provided by FM Amy Parker) below:
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The Open Information Collective will continue to provide any updates as to what occurs with this action.