Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday signed legislation to strengthen the Brown Act’s prohibition against serial meetings.

SB 1732 explicitly overturns a 2006 court decision, Wolfe v. City of Fremont, which ruled that communications among members of a legislative body do not run afoul of the bar on “serial meetings” unless the members actually reach a decision on how to vote on a matter before the body. The new law provides:

“A majority of the members of a legislative body shall not, outside a meeting authorized by this chapter, use a series of communications of any kind, directly or through intermediaries, to discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item of business that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body.”

SB 1732, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, also amends the California Public Records Act to clarify that a local agency may not discriminate in allowing access to public records among members of a multi-member body.

The Governor’s signature is an important victory for the California Newspaper Publishers Ass’n, which had worked closely with Romero on SB 1732.

The text of the law is here.