COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ae SACHI A. HAMAT EXECUTIVE OFFICER, August 20, 2014 OPPOSE RE: AB 194 (Campos) Open Meetings: Public Criticism and Comment 26 ay 4 Dear Members of the Legislature: We are writing to express our strong opposition to County-opposed AB 194 (Campos), which would forbid the legislative body of a local agency at their public meetings from Prohibiting or limiting comment by a member of the public wishing to speak before the legislative body's consideration of an item, as well as during consideration, including ‘comment by those who fail to provide advance notice of comment. The Ralph M. Brown Act provides a long-standing and effective framework in which to hold a meeting of a local legislative body so that it allows the public with the opportunity to attend and participate. As proposed, AB 194 runs in conflict with the Brown Act provisions that allow local agencies to establish reasonable rules to efficiently manage their meetings and the public's participation. In amending subdivision (a) of Government Code Section 54954.3, AB 194 is ambiguous with respect to when and how often a member of the public must be allowed to speak on an item on the agenda. However, courts could interpret the bill to allow persons to speak at least twice on any, and potentially all, items on a legislative body's agenda. In any case, the bill certainly would remove control of the meeting from the County, which would cause undue disruptions at public meetings. This would particularly affect larger jurisdictions, such as Los Angeles County, where the number of individuals seeking to address the Board can reach the hundreds, and when up to 90 agenda items can be considered in one meeting alone. This measure would notably hinder the Board's ability at their public meetings to make critical program and policy decisions in a timely and cost effective manner. Los Angeles County already has an open and effective system to manage its public meetings, and AB 194 would work against the Board's deliberate efforts which grant each Public member an equal amount of time to comment on any particular agenda item The County of Los Angeles strongly supports and is committed to the transparency that the Brown Act affords members of the public; however, AB 194, in conflicting with current statutes and effective practices, would jeopardize operational effectiveness and ultimately, the intent of the Brown Act.For those reasons, we respectfully request your “NO” vote on AB 194. Sincerely, KNABE rman, Board of Supervisors bila loment a oh Elid Ten THOMAS: Sugervisor, First District Supervisor, Second District MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH Supervisor, Fifth District c: Assembly Member Campos