Page 14 - 2026 Lozano Smith Brown Act Handbook

II.
THE BROWN ACT APPLIES TO ALL MEETINGS
OF LOCAL PUBLIC AGENCY LEGISLATIVE BODIES

A. LEGISLATIVE BODIES

1. Legislative Body Is Broadly Defined and Includes Decision Making and Advisory
Bodies.

The definition of “legislative body” means:

a. Governing Bodies. The governing body of a local agency or any other
local body created by state or federal statute.

b. Subsidiary Bodies. All commissions, committees, boards, or other bodies
created by formal action of the legislative body, whether temporary, decision making, or
advisory. Formal action is interpreted broadly and would likely include the appointment by the
legislative body of members to a committee established at the administrative level, for example a
committee created by the superintendent or city manager.

Subsidiary bodies are encouraged to meet by teleconference where a
teleconference meeting would enhance public access to the meeting and promote the attraction,
retention, and diversity of eligible subsidiary body members. Specific procedures must be
followed.

There is one exception to subsidiary bodies being subject to the Brown Act: ad
hoc advisory committees consisting of less than a quorum of members of the legislative body.
The following rules apply: (1) the committee must be purely an advisory committee with no
decision making authority; (2) the committee must be composed solely of less than a quorum of
members of the legislative body (two members for a five-member body, three members for a
seven-member body); (3) the committee must not have continuing subject matter jurisdiction;
and (4) the committee must not have a meeting schedule fixed by formal action of the legislative
body.

Fact finding committees consisting of less than a quorum of members from two or
more agencies, even if appointed by the legislative bodies, have been held to fall within this
exception provided the committee does not meet on a recurring or ongoing basis and provided
representatives from each agency independently report back information to their respective
governing bodies, not as a joint recommendation.

In addition to the express exception, provisions in the Educational Employment
Relations Act, which exempt school district labor negotiation meetings from the Brown Act, will
apply to subcommittees created for the purpose of furthering collective bargaining, such as a
health benefits committee.

(Education Code § 35147; Government Code §§ 54952, 54953.8.6; Golightly v. Molina (2014)
229 Cal.App.4th 1501; Californians Aware v. Joint Labor/Management Benefits Committee

2 LozanoSmith.com 2026 Brown Act Handbook