In the News

EDITORIAL: Transparency is an asset, not an expense (Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

July 18, 2012

California's public meeting law is a model of clarity:

• City council members, county supervisors, school board trustees and other local elected and appointed officials can't act on any item that isn't on their meeting agenda.

• Barring an emergency, agendas must be posted at least three days in advance of the meeting.

• Executive sessions are, for the most part, limited to litigation and labor and real estate negotiations, and any decision made behind closed doors must be disclosed as soon as the public meeting reconvenes.

In The News

EDITORIAL: Let's permanently protect rules of open government (Redding Record Searchlight)

July 15, 2012

Strictly speaking, your government representatives no longer have to tell you in advance what they're going to discuss at the next meeting, and they don't have to report actions they've taken in closed session.

If that sounds absurd, it is; and for now at least there's little chance that local municipalities or counties will risk the public's wrath by doing any such thing. And yet ... they could.

In The News

EDITORIAL: Court's decision sensible on teen killer sentences (Ventura County Star)

June 27, 2012

The law cannot fly on automatic pilot, which is what state legislatures periodically try to do by taking certain decisions out of the hands of judges and juries, particularly with mandatory minimum sentences.

A particularly egregious example of bypassing judicial discretion are laws requiring youths younger than 18 convicted of murder to be sentenced to life without parole, regardless of the circumstances of the crimes or such factors as a brutally dysfunctional home life.

In The News

EDITORIAL: High court acts wisely on life terms for juveniles (San Francisco Chronicle)

June 26, 2012

ON LIFE SENTENCES FOR JUVENILES

The Supreme Court was wise to ban mandatory sentences of life imprisonment without parole for juvenile offenders on Monday.

The 5-4 decision declared that it's cruel and unusual punishment for underage murderers to be given the irrevocable mandatory sentence. There are nearly 2,500 juvenile offenders serving the harsh terms in the United States. About half were sentenced to life terms as a mandatory punishment for their convictions, and 80 of them were convicted when they were 14 years old or younger.