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(Education Code § 35145.5; Mooney v. Garcia (2012) 207 Cal.App.4th 229; Coalition of Labor,
Agriculture & Business v. County of Santa Barbara (2005) 129 Cal.App.4th 205; Frazer v.
Dixon Unified School District (1993) 18 Cal.App.4th 781.)

C. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

1. For Regular Meetings the Public Must Be Provided an Opportunity to Address
Not Only Any Item on the Agenda but Any Item Within the Subject Matter
Jurisdiction of the Agency.

Each agenda for a regular public meeting must provide the public with an
opportunity to address the legislative body on any item on the agenda, before or during the
legislative body’s consideration of the item, and on any item of interest to the public that is
within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. The legislative body may require
that comments specific to items on the agenda be made at the time when the item is being
considered, and not during the general public comment period. This practice ensures that the
legislative body has a clear and complete understanding of the public concern regarding an item
of business at the time the item is being discussed.

The public comment right includes a right to comment on closed session agenda
items prior to the legislative body going into closed session. Only one public comment period is
required, even if a meeting carries over to a second day. The legislative body may not take
action on any item raised by the public if that item did not appear on the agenda, unless allowed
as set forth in Government Code section 54954.2 subdivision (b).

The agenda does not, however, have to provide the public with an opportunity to
address the legislative body on an item if the public already had the right to address a committee
composed entirely of members of the legislative body on that topic before or during the time in
which the committee heard the item. This exception does not apply if any of the following
conditions are met:

(a) The item being considered substantially changed since it was last considered
by the legislative body.

(b) When considering the item, a quorum of the committee members did not
participate from a singular physical location clearly identified on the agenda, open to the public,
and within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction.

(c) The committee has primary subject matter jurisdiction that focuses on:
elections; budgets; police oversight; privacy; removing from, or restricting access to, materials
available in public libraries; or taxes or related spending proposals. This provision does not
apply if the committee is prohibited from having a public comment time limit restriction.

While the law provides narrow exceptions allowing limitations on the public’s
right to comment on agency matters, legislative bodies should also keep in mind the intent of the
Brown Act to facilitate public comment broadly.

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