In response to a complaint that
Glendale Mayor Frank Quintero is denying the public the right to address the
Glendale City Council regarding any item on the agenda unless a Speaker Card is
submitted BEFORE said item is presented to the council, Los Angeles County
District Attorney Steve Cooley has gone on record as supporting Mayor Quintero
over the interests of the public.
Therefore, any legislative body in
the State of
The only way government watchdogs can
overcome this prohibition is to submit Speaker Cards (or otherwise indicate
intent to speak) for every item on the agenda BEFORE hearing any of the presentations!
Hal Weber, ( halweber@earthlink.net )
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Subject: Allegation of Brown Act Violation by Mayor
Quintero
Dear Mr. Weber,
We received your complaint alleging
that Glendale Mayor Frank Quintero is violating the Brown Act by "not
allowing members of the public to address the council unless they have submitted
a speaker card BEFORE commencement of agenda items". Government Code
Section 54954.3(a) provides that "(E)very agenda
for regular meeting shall provide an opportunity for members of the public to
directly address the legislative body on any item of interest to the public,
before or during the legislative body's consideration of the item, that is
within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body". This
section was adopted by in 1993, and continues to be the legal authority that
mandates public comment before or during consideration of each agenda item, as
well as general public comment. In the ensuing years, the courts have made
clear that the right to public comment is not unfettered. Courts have
consistently found meetings of legislative bodies are limited public fora, meaning that the public's rights to speak are not
absolute. The Brown Act, permits legislative bodies, like a
city council, to regulate the time, place and manner of public comments.
Government Code Section 54954.3(b) states "(T)he legislative body of a
local agency may adopt reasonable regulations to ensure that the intent of
subdivision (a) is carried out, including, but not limited to, regulations
limiting the total amount of time allocated for public testimony on particular
issues and for each individual speaker." This has been upheld by the court
repeatedly in the years following the adoption of this statutory language.
In that regard, the use of speaker cards is, in fact, a permissible regulation
of public comments. The purpose of speaker cards is to ensure that those who
wish to address the council are recognized, and that the agency can determine
how much time to allocate to the matters about which the speakers want to
address the agency on a particular item. The use of speaker cards permits the
agency to allocate the time available in a way that is reasonable, given the
issues and interest demonstrated by the speaker cards gathered prior to
consideration of agenda items.
Your observation that "members of the public have no way of knowing
beforehand everything that is going to come up during an agenda item
presentation to which they may take exception and therefore wish to address the
council" is valid. However, it is equally important to recall that public
comment as set forth in the Brown Act, and as reviewed by the courts, does not
create a right to public dialog. In fact, the Brown Act, by its own terms,
proscribes such a situation by restricting members of legislative bodies to
briefly respond to statements made or questions posed by persons exercising
their public testimony rights under Section 54954.3. See, Government Code
Section 54954.2(a).
Given the well-established state of the law, we find that the Burbank City
Council's use of speaker cards, and the requirement that speaker cards must be
submitted before commencement of the agenda or an agenda item is a reasonable
regulation that is content-neutral. We conclude therefore, that the use of
speaker cards by the
Thank you for your interest and advocacy on behalf of public participation in
government. Be assured that we will continue to actively enforce the letter and
the spirit of the Brown Act in order to ensure that the public's right to open
and transparent decision-making is protected.
Very truly yours,
STEVE COOLEY
District Attorney
By
JENNIFER LENTZ SNYDER
Assistant Head Deputy
Public Integrity Division
(213) 974-6513