Open meetings: majority.

Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a legislative body, as defined, of a local agency be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. Existing law defines "meetings" for these purposes to mean any congregation of a majority of the members of a legislative body at the same time and location, as specified, to hear, discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. This bill would define "majority" for purposes of the act to mean the number of members of the legislative body equaling more than half of the total number of seats on the legislative body. The bill would specify that if a seat on the legislative body is vacant, that seat is to still be counted as a seat on the legislative body. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.