Page 4 - 2024 Brown Act Handbook

2. To Address the Situation When Public Offices Are Closed, the Legislature Added Clarity
to the Requirement that Agenda Records Distributed to the Legislative Body Less Than
72 Hours Before a Regular Meeting Be Made Available for Public Inspection at the Same
Time.

th
In 2021, the Court, in Sierra Watch v. Placer County (2021) 69 Cal.App.5 1, concluded under
Government Code section 54957.5 that records distributed to the legislative body, less than 72
hours before a regular meeting, that relate to an agenda item must be made available for public
inspection at the same time. The Sierra Watch case related to approval of a specific plan
environmental impact report (EIR) and development agreement. After the agenda was posted the
development agreement was amended. County staff emailed the County Clerk an updated
agreement and memorandum explaining the changes. Thereafter, the County Clerk placed copies
of those documents in an office where the public can inspect them and emailed the documents to
the Board at 5:42 p.m. The County Clerk’s office was only open to the public from 8:00 a.m. to
5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Court interpreted section 54957.5 strictly, holding that
the additional materials were not available to the public because the County offices were closed.
The Court went a step further, holding that posting the documents on the County’s website
would not have been sufficient to make the records available to the public. Under this ruling, a
local agency would not be able to distribute records to elected bodies after business hours until
the next business day unless it has a physical location accessible after hours.

To address the Sierra Watch case, the Legislature amended Government Code section 54957.5
(effective January 1, 2023), to clarify that the posting of the documents on the local agency’s
website is sufficient for after-hours public inspection provided the documents are also available
the next business day. Specifically, the following rules apply:

(1) An initial staff report or similar document containing an executive summary and the
staff recommendation, if any, relating to that agenda item is made available for public
inspection at the designated office or location at least 72 hours before the meeting.

(2) The local agency immediately posts any writing on the local agency’s internet website
in a position and manner that makes it clear that the writing relates to an agenda item for
an upcoming meeting.

(3) The local agency lists the web address of the local agency’s internet website on the
agendas for all meetings of the legislative body of that agency.

(4) The local agency makes physical copies available for public inspection, beginning the
next regular business hours for the local agency, at the designated office or location.

(5) The next regular business hours of the local agency commence at least 24 hours
before the upcoming meeting.

The legislation addresses the weekday after-hours distribution scenario, but unfortunately, does
not fully address the weekend scenario where the next business day could be almost three days
later if the records are distributed after 5:00 p.m. on a Friday for a Monday meeting. Agency

2024 Brown Act Handbook LozanoSmith.com