Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Confidentiality and the Law

[Victor Raymond (vraymond]

Dear Norm,

I'm not a lawyer, but a short examination of the California Open 
Meetings Acts (both Bagley-Keene and Brown) indicate that only 
non-profit organizations that are formed by a public entity or have 
some member or funding specifically authorized by a public entity are 
covered.  In other words, a garden-variety non-profit board is *not* 
covered by these laws.  If yours is a membership organization, there 
may be provisos under California law for meetings open to members, 
but that's a different kettle of fish, IMHO.

It's a common misconception that non-profits must have open meetings; 
this varies from state to state, but it is usually covered under the 
act governing incorporation and those laws that are for public 
entities.  Again, I'm not a lawyer, but I have worked with 
non-profits for about 20 years, sometimes as Board chair and 
sometimes as Executive Director.  There are many reasons why a board 
might *want* to keep meetings open, but the legal requirements are 
not as strong as many people think.

Just another 2 c.

Victor

At 01:46 PM 9/16/2007, you wrote:

> According to California law, the only permitted confidentiality is 
> with executive sessions of the Board on certain specified matters.
>
> All other venues are considered open forums.  This is the purpose of 
> the "Open Meetings Act".  All statements made in these open forums 
> are considered political and here free speech prevails.  In a recent 
> lawsuit concerning statements about the incompetence of a Board 
> member, the court ruled that all comments on both sides of the case 
> are for public consumption.  The claim for damages because of libel 
> or defamation were denied.
>
> Norm G.
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Victor J Raymond
vraymond "at"  iastate.edu


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