The Brown Act Simplified

Here's simple, straight-forward information regarding the restrictions for our Neighborhood Meetings with respect to the Brown Act. 

There's been some confusion about how MAC Board Members can talk at meetings.  Simply stated....  Here's the rules for the MAC Board Of Directors (BOD):

1. Individual contacts or conversations between a member of the legislative body (BOD) and any other person is OK.
2. The majority of the legislative body is not allowed to meet to develop a collective concurrence as to the action to be taken on an item by the members of the legislative body (BOD).

These are the only two rules we must follow when participating in our Neighborhood Meetings. 

What it means is this: 

1. Members of the board can talk one on one with anyone about anything at any time!  
2. The majority of members of the board (3 or more) can NOT meet to discuss decisions on actions they will take on an item they will be asked to vote upon at a later date.

In other words, we can talk about anything we want at our Neighborhood Meetings!  The only restriction is we can't have three board members present talking about how they are going to vote on an upcoming item.

I hope this is a relief for many meeting attendees.  It certainly allows us to feel a bit more relaxed communicating with our neighbors.  The term "Brown Act Laws" can sound intimidating, yet it isn't at all.  It basically gives guidance for common sense behavior for members of a legislative body to act appropriately.

This information was taken directly from the MAC Member Procedures Handbook.  I reviewed the information and discovered we can openly discuss any information we want to talk about.  Plus, all the information from our MAC meetings is public information and can be shared openly at all times. Questions?  Contact Us.