California 2011-2012 Regular Session Status: Enacted

SB 1003 — Local government: open meetings: cease and desist letters.

Last action — Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 732, Statutes of 2012.

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  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. ✓
    Passed Senate
  4. ✓
    Passed Assembly
  5. ✓
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 06, 2012. Enacted.

Prognosis

Likely to advance 72% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

High

How often bills like it became law.

  • Enacted

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 2 sponsors

    1 primary, 1 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Cleared a recorded vote

    Passed 5 recorded votes so far.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act (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. Existing law authorizes the district attorney or any interested person to file an action by mandamus, injunction, or declaratory relief to, among other things, determine the applicability of the act to actions or threatened future actions of the legislative body. This bill would prohibit a district attorney or an interested person from filing an action for an alleged violation of the Brown Act for past actions of a legislative body, unless certain conditions are met, including, but not limited to, a requirement that the district attorney or interested person submit a cease and desist letter to the legislative body being accused of the violation setting forth the alleged violation, and the legislative body has failed to issue an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged past action within 30 days of receiving the letter. The bill would require the unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged past action to meet certain requirements. The bill would require that an action filed to challenge an alleged violation of the Brown Act pursuant to these provisions be dismissed with prejudice if the legislative body enters into an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged past action. The bill would authorize the legislative body to enter into an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged action at any time, unless the plaintiff succeeds in a civil action against the legislative body and is awarded attorney's fees. The bill would provide that if an action filed to challenge an alleged violation of the Brown Act pursuant to these provisions is dismissed with prejudice because the legislative body has entered into an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged action after the 30-day period described above, and if the filing of that action caused the legislative body to enter into the unconditional commitment, then a court shall award costs and reasonable attorney fees to the plaintiff. The bill would require a legislative body that wishes to rescind a commitment to do so by a majority vote of the membership of the legislative body.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 732, Statutes of 2012.

  2. Approved by the Governor.

  3. Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 1:30 p.m.

  4. Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 24. Noes 14. Page 4688.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

  5. In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

  6. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 62. Noes 12. Page 6010.) Ordered to the Senate.

  7. Ordered to third reading.

  8. Read third time and amended. (Page 5895.)

  9. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  10. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 27).

  11. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV.

  12. Referred to Com. on L. GOV.

  13. In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

  14. Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 23. Noes 11. Page 3735.) Ordered to the Assembly.

  15. Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  16. From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 3. Page 3457.) (May 9).

  17. Set for hearing May 9.

  18. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F.

  19. Hearing postponed by committee.

  20. Set for hearing May 2.

  21. Set, second hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

  22. From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on GOV. & F.

  23. Set for hearing April 18.

  24. Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.

  25. Set for hearing March 21.

  26. Referred to Com. on GOV. & F.

  27. From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 8.

  28. Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Sponsors

  • Alejo · Cosponsor
  • Yee · Primary

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

1 sponsors · 1 co-sponsors · 120 not signed on · 5 voted No

Sponsors (1)

  • Yee

Co-sponsors (1)

  • Alejo

Not signed on (120)

120 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 120 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Votes

Passed 24 Yea · 14 Nay · 2 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 221302
Democratic 2000
Republican 0100
Total 241402
% of votes cast 60%35%0%5%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Yee — Yea
Lowenthal — Yea
De León — Yea
Negrete McLeod — Yea
Hancock — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Corbett — Yea
Correa — Yea
DeSaulnier — Yea
Hernandez — Yea
Kehoe — Yea
Liu — Yea
Pavley — Yea
Price — Yea
Vargas — Yea
Wright — Yea
Wyland — Nay
Fuller — Nay
Runner — Nay
Cannella — Nay
Leno — Yea
Lieu — Not Voting
Alquist — Yea
Blakeslee — Nay
Dutton — Nay
Walters — Nay
Anderson — Nay
Harman — Not Voting
Huff — Nay
Simitian — Yea
Steinberg — Yea
Wolk — Yea
Emmerson — Nay
Evans — Yea
Beth Gaines — Nay
Bill Berryhill — Nay
La Malfa — Nay
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Padilla, Stephen C. Democratic Yea
Strickland, Tony Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Passed 62 Yea · 12 Nay · 6 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 601106
Republican 1100
Democratic 1000
Total 621206
% of votes cast 78%15%0%8%
How each member voted (80)
Member Party Vote
Gorell — Not Voting
Eng — Yea
Butler — Yea
Feuer — Yea
Huber — Yea
Logue — Yea
Olsen — Yea
Fong — Yea
Carter — Yea
Allen — Yea
Cedillo — Yea
Swanson — Yea
Williams — Yea
Yamada — Yea
Galgiani — Yea
Campos — Yea
Portantino — Yea
John A. Pérez — Yea
Mitchell — Yea
Gatto — Yea
Gordon — Yea
Hagman — Yea
Chesbro — Yea
Hall — Yea
Bonilla — Yea
Atkins — Yea
Hayashi — Yea
Beall — Yea
Davis — Yea
Dickinson — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Jeffries — Yea
Knight — Yea
Lara — Yea
Mendoza — Yea
Monning — Yea
Nielsen — Yea
Pan — Yea
Skinner — Yea
Smyth — Yea
Torres — Yea
Valadao — Yea
Miller — Nay
Morrell — Nay
Silva — Nay
Wagner — Nay
Fletcher — Not Voting
Halderman — Not Voting
Achadjian — Yea
Alejo — Yea
Ammiano — Yea
Block — Yea
Blumenfield — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Brownley — Yea
Buchanan — Yea
Harkey — Nay
Hill — Yea
Huffman — Yea
Ma — Yea
Mansoor — Nay
Nestande — Yea
Norby — Nay
Perea — Yea
Solorio — Yea
Wieckowski — Yea
Conway — Nay
Cook — Not Voting
Donnelly — Nay
Fuentes — Yea
Furutani — Not Voting
Garrick — Nay
Beth Gaines — Nay
Bill Berryhill — Yea
Bonnie Lowenthal — Yea
Roger Hernández — Not Voting
V. Manuel Pérez — Yea
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Grove, Shannon Republican Yea
Jones, Brian W. Republican Nay

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 9 Yea · 0 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 9000
Total 9000
% of votes cast 100%0%0%0%
How each member voted (9)
Member Party Vote
Gordon — Yea
Davis — Yea
Campos — Yea
Knight — Yea
Norby — Yea
Alejo — Yea
Bradford — Yea
Hueso — Yea
Smyth — Yea

Official roll call →

3rd Reading

Passed 23 Yea · 12 Nay · 5 Other
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 211204
Republican 0001
Democratic 2000
Total 231205
% of votes cast 58%30%0%13%
How each member voted (40)
Member Party Vote
Yee — Yea
Rubio — Yea
Cannella — Nay
Evans — Not Voting
Runner — Not Voting
Harman — Nay
Corbett — Yea
Anderson — Nay
Dutton — Nay
Leno — Yea
Vargas — Yea
Lowenthal — Yea
De León — Yea
Negrete McLeod — Yea
DeSaulnier — Yea
Hancock — Yea
Hernandez — Yea
Lieu — Yea
Price — Yea
Steinberg — Yea
Wolk — Yea
Wright — Yea
Alquist — Yea
Blakeslee — Nay
Huff — Nay
Kehoe — Yea
Liu — Yea
Pavley — Yea
Simitian — Yea
Walters — Nay
Wyland — Nay
Emmerson — Nay
Correa — Not Voting
Fuller — Nay
Beth Gaines — Nay
Bill Berryhill — Not Voting
La Malfa — Nay
Calderon, Lisa Democratic Yea
Padilla, Stephen C. Democratic Yea
Strickland, Tony Republican Not Voting

Official roll call →

Do pass.

Passed 6 Yea · 3 Nay
Party YeaNayPresentNot Voting
Unaffiliated 6300
Total 6300
% of votes cast 67%33%0%0%
How each member voted (9)
Member Party Vote
Hancock — Yea
Dutton — Nay
Liu — Yea
Hernandez — Yea
Kehoe — Yea
Wolk — Yea
DeSaulnier — Yea
Fuller — Nay
La Malfa — Nay

Official roll call →

Subjects

Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 1003 do?
Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act (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. Existing law authorizes the district attorney or any interested person to file an action by mandamus, injunction, or declaratory relief to, among other things, determine the applicability of the act to actions or threatened future actions of the legislative body. This bill would prohibit a district attorney or an interested person from filing an action for an alleged violation of the Brown Act for past actions of a legislative body, unless certain conditions are met, including, but not limited to, a requirement that the district attorney or interested person submit a cease and desist letter to the legislative body being accused of the violation setting forth the alleged violation, and the legislative body has failed to issue an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged past action within 30 days of receiving the letter. The bill would require the unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged past action to meet certain requirements. The bill would require that an action filed to challenge an alleged violation of the Brown Act pursuant to these provisions be dismissed with prejudice if the legislative body enters into an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged past action. The bill would authorize the legislative body to enter into an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged action at any time, unless the plaintiff succeeds in a civil action against the legislative body and is awarded attorney's fees. The bill would provide that if an action filed to challenge an alleged violation of the Brown Act pursuant to these provisions is dismissed with prejudice because the legislative body has entered into an unconditional commitment to cease and desist from the alleged action after the 30-day period described above, and if the filing of that action caused the legislative body to enter into the unconditional commitment, then a court shall award costs and reasonable attorney fees to the plaintiff. The bill would require a legislative body that wishes to rescind a commitment to do so by a majority vote of the membership of the legislative body.
Who sponsors SB 1003?
SB 1003 is sponsored by Alejo and Yee.
What is the current status of SB 1003?
This bill has been enacted into law. Introduced February 06, 2012. Enacted.
Where can I track SB 1003?
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