JOHN K. VAN DE KAMP Attorney General
CLAYTON P. ROCHE Deputy Attorney General
AGO 83-304
No. 83-304
California Attorney General Opinion
Office of the Attorney General State of California
July 28, 1983
THE
HONORABLE DAVID ROBERTI, MEMBER OF THE CALIFORNIA SENATE, has
requested an opinion on the following question:
Are
meetings of the academic senate or faculty council of a
California community college subject to the open meeting
requirements of the Ralph M. Brown Act?
CONCLUSION
Meetings
of the academic senate or faculty council of a California
community college are subject to the open meeting
requirements of the Ralph M. Brown Act.
ANALYSIS
The
Ralph M. Brown Act, Government Code section 54950 et seq.,
requires that "legislative bodies" of "local
agencies" as defined in the act hold their meetings open
to the public unless expressly excepted by the act, or unless
impliedly excepted by some other confidentiality provision of
the law such as the attorney-client privilege. (63
Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 820, 821 (1980).) "Local agency"
includes a school district, including a California community
college district. (See Gov. Code, § 54951;
Atty.Gen.Unpub.Opn. I.L. 76-222.) "Legislative
body" for purposes of the act is not restricted to the
actual governing board or body of a local agency. It includes
as well (1) "any board or commission thereof, or other
body on which officers of a local agency serve in their
official capacity" (Gov. Code, § 54952); (2)
boards, commissions or committees "which exercise any
[delegated] authority of a legislative body" (Gov. Code,
§ 54952.2; (3) "planning commission, library
boards, recreation commission, and other permanent boards or
commissions of a local agency" (Gov. Code, §
54952.5); and (4) "any advisory commission, advisory
committee or advisory body of a local agency, created by
charter, ordinance, resolution, or by any similar formal
action of a legislative body or member of a legislative body
of a local agency" (Gov. Code, § 54952.3).
As will
be evident from an examination of the functions of an
academic senate or faculty council (hereinafter
"academic senate"), the basic issue presented is
whether an academic senate is an advisory commission,
committee or body within the meaning of section 54952.3 of
the Government Code. Stated otherwise, is a community college
academic senate an advisory body of the community college
district board, and has it been formed by "formal
action" of that board as contemplated by the Ralph M.
Brown Act?
California
community colleges are established pursuant to division 7 of
title 3 of the Education Code. (Ed. Code, § 71000 et
seq.) At the state level, there is a Board of Governors of...