Joiner

The Ralph M. Brown Act (Gov. Code, § 54950 et seq.) requires that “[a]ll meetings of the legislative body of a local agency shall be open and public” (Gov. Code, § 54953). The term “legislative body” is defined in Government Code section 54952.3 to include “any advisory commission, advisory committee or advisory body of a local agency, created by charter, ordinance, resolution, or by any similar formal actions of a governing body or member of such governing body of a local agency . .. [but] as defined in this section does not include a committee composed solely of members of the governing body of a local agency which are less than a quorum of such governing body.” The question presented by this appeal is whether a group consisting of two members of a city council and two members of a city planning commission (in both instances less than a quorum of their respective bodies), created at the initiative of the city council for the purpose of making recommendations to the city council concerning the filling of a vacancy on the planning commission, constitutes a “legislative body” within the meaning of that section. Contrary to the ruling of the trial court, we hold that it…