Municipal Law Resources:
An Online Guide to California Municipal Law
www.municipal-law.com provides a range of online municipal and state law
resources.
Brown Act.
The Brown Act is California's open meeting law. For the text of this law, click here.
An overview of the law is included in this summary.
Codes of Cities and Counties.
The codes of many California cities and counties are available online at their official websites.
For a listing of the codes of California cities and counties found on their official websites,
click
here. In addition, some of these municipal and county codes are included
on the websites of these code publishing companies:
American Legal Publishing Company;
Book Publishing Company/Lexis;
Code Publishing Company;
Municipal Code Corporation;
Sterling Codifiers; and
Quality Code Publishing.
Ethics Laws.
For the publication "Ethics Law Compliance Best Practices", click here.
Another useful publication on conflict of interest laws in California can be found at the following
link.
Municipal Participation in Ballot Measures.
The publication "Legal Issues Associated with City Participation in Ballot Measures"
provides a helpful guide regarding the ways in which cities and public officials can participate with ballot measures, as
authorized under state law and recent court decisions.
Click here.
Proposition 218.
Proposition 218 requires that all new property taxes and most charges on property owners are subject to
voter approval. For a summary of Proposition 218, see Understanding Prop. 218.
For the Proposition 218 Implementation Guide, click here.
Political Campaign, Lobbying, and Conflict of Interest Laws.
The website for the California Fair Political Practices Commission provides useful resources about
laws relating to political campaigns, lobbying and conflict of interest laws. Click here. The text of the Political Reform Act can be found on the FPPC's website at
this link. Some cities and counties
also have adopted local regulations which impose stricter requirements than those imposed by the State of California. These regulations are generally found in the city or county codes.
Click here.
Public Records Act.
The Public Records Act requires that the public has proper access to specific categories of documents generated and maintained by public entities in California. A useful guide to the Public Records Act
is found at the following link.
Use of Public Resources.
The "Public Official's Guide to Use of Public Resources" provides a useful guide on appropriate uses of public resources by elected officials. Click here.
This website is provided as a public service by Wallin, Kress, Reisman & Kranitz, LLP, a Santa Monica, California law firm specializing in municipal, redevelopment, land use and eminent domain law.
The firm's attorneys are Peter Wallin, Bob Kress, Cary Reisman and Lisa Kranitz. For the law firm's website, see www.wkrklaw.com. Please note that this website is intended to provide educational and informational materials, not to serve as legal advice. Because the law is
constantly changing, the materials and information available through this website may not reflect the most current legal developments. Accordingly,
you should not act upon this information without seeking legal counsel. © 2011. Sitemap. This site was created by Ken Rozell. You may also view these municipal and state law resources at www.cityattorney.us.