Time allotted for speaking at public meeting

Q: Since the State take-over of the Oakland Public Schools, the State Administrator, Randolph Ward, has maintained the following rule for public comment. At a regular State Administrator and/or School Board Meeting, a member of the public is restricted to three minutes of public speech on all agenda and non-agenda items. Is this rule a violation of the Brown Act?

A: Time limits on public comment are not a violation of the Brown Act. A legislative body's chief control over the scope of public comment is the use of time limits. The law does not state what those limits are, simply that they must be "reasonable...to ensure that the intent" of accommodating public comment "is carried out." The Attorney General has concluded that five minutes per speaker may be "reasonable" under the circumstances (75 Ops. Cal. Atty. Gen. 89 (1992)), but many if not most agencies appear to keep the per speaker limit to three minutes - per agenda item.

More important that the exact time permitted is that the time limits be administered neutrally and evenhandedly. Clearly giving more time to citizens on one side of a controversial topic than those on the other, for example, is not "reasonable." On the other hand, although the staff or other main proponents of an agenda item will commonly take considerable time in presenting the proposal, there is no requirement that citizens be given "equal time" for rebuttal.