LOS ANGELES — In addition to prompting widespread outrage, the revelation that members of the Los Angeles City Council exchanged racist jibes at a secret meeting with a top labor leader has led some Californians to wonder whether they crossed a legal line as well.
The Ralph M. Brown Act of 1953 guarantees the public's right to observe its elected representatives as they deliberate and make decisions, with limited exceptions. And the three members who gathered last October were discussing something with a direct and significant effect on their constituents: the boundaries of new City Council districts, including how economic assets would be divided among districts dominated by Latino and Black residents.
The Brown Act was designed to be broad, extending to informal meet-ups as well as official sessions held at City Hall. But it doesn't apply to every gathering of council members. Instead, it applies to "any congregation of a majority of the members of a legislative body at the same time and location, including (by) teleconference ... to hear, discuss, deliberate, or take any action on any item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body."
