From SFGate:
California's 59-year-old Ralph M. Brown Act is meant to ensure open and accessible government. These days, it also shows how convoluted the state can be.
A key feature of the act – that local elected bodies and commissions must post their meeting agendas in advance – was suspended as part of the new state budget, a bookkeeping move that could save the state $96 million in 2012-13.