OVERVIEW OF THE BROWN ACT
The Brown Act, Government Code section 54950 et seq., regulates many
aspects of local public agency meetings in both open and closed sessions. The companion
statute for state agencies is the Bagley-Keene Act, Government Code section 11120 et seq.
The Brown Act and Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act require that all meetings of legislative
bodies be open to the public, except for authorized closed sessions.
The Legislature adopted the Brown Act, commonly referred to as California's
“Open Meetings Laws” in 1964, and substantially overhauled the Brown Act in 1993. The
Legislature periodically makes substantive and technical changes to the Brown Act. These
materials address the Brown Act and include all revisions through the 2011 Legislative
session.
