A 1953 grand jury report on the practice of prohibiting the press from attending closed session meetings at the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors aptly summarizes the theory of the act, stating, “The business of public bodies is public business, and they should meet in the open. The best way to keep government close to the people is to make knowledge of governmental activities available to the people." The Brown Act has been added on to substantially since 1953, and now includes provisions for many aspects of governmental congregation, from electronic communications to public comment.

Recent additions to the act include regulations for tele-conferencing, emergency meetings and American’s with Disabilities Act compliancy.  As far as Amador County goes, in 2004, the grand jury investigated complaints that members of the Plymouth City Council were in violation of the act by discussing non-agendized issues in closed session meetings. The city responded by revising their policy on how items make it on the agenda. For more information on the provisions of the Brown Act, visit one of the websites on your screen: http://www.brownact.org/ or http://www.ag.ca.gov/publications/2003_Intro_BrownAct.pdf