Meetings, Agendas, and the Open Meeting Act

The Open Meeting Act (Civil Code §§ 4900–4955) exists so that association business happens where members can see it.

The core rules🔗

• Members may attend any open portion of a board meeting and must be given a reasonable opportunity to speak (Civil Code § 4925).
• Notice and agenda: general notice of a board meeting, including the agenda, must be given at least four days before the meeting (§ 4920). Executive session meetings require two days’ notice.
• No action off the agenda: under § 4930, the board generally may not discuss or act on any item not on the posted agenda. There are narrow exceptions — brief responses to member statements, requesting staff to report back, and genuine emergencies.
• A “meeting” is broader than it sounds. Section 4090 defines it to include any congregation of a majority of directors at the same time and place to hear or deliberate on association business — including by electronic means. A majority of the board settling a question over email is a meeting held without notice.
• Minutes of open meetings must be available to members within 30 days of the meeting (§ 4950).

Executive session is limited🔗

Section 4935 restricts closed sessions to five subjects:

1. litigation;
2. matters relating to the formation of contracts with third parties;
3. member discipline;
4. personnel matters; and
5. meeting with a member, at the member’s request, regarding payment of assessments.

The board must note in the minutes of the next open meeting, in general terms, any matter discussed in executive session (§ 4935(e)).

Our board’s minutes do carry that disclosure. Each month’s minutes record that the prior month’s executive session addressed “CCR Violations, hearings, delinquencies and legal matters” — categories that fall within § 4935. What the disclosure does not tell members is anything about scale or pattern, which is why the underlying records matter.

Virtual meetings have extra requirements🔗

Our board meets exclusively by Zoom. Every set of 2025 minutes we have reviewed records the meeting as conducted “via ZOOM video conference.”

Civil Code § 4926, added by AB 648, permits a board to meet entirely by teleconference without a physical location — but only if the association satisfies specific conditions, including:

• The notice must include clear technical instructions on how to participate.
• The notice must give a telephone number and email address for technical assistance, available both before and during the meeting.
• Every director vote must be conducted by roll call.
• The teleconference option must permit members to participate and to speak.

Actions taken at a virtual meeting that fails these requirements are open to challenge. Members who intend to test this should keep copies of the meeting notices they actually receive.

Note also that Civil Code § 4926 does not extend to meetings at which ballots are counted — under § 5120, ballots must be counted in public at a properly noticed open meeting.

Enforcement🔗

Under Civil Code § 4955, a member may bring an action to enforce the Open Meeting Act. A court may void actions taken in violation of it, and a prevailing member may recover costs and reasonable attorney’s fees, plus a civil penalty of up to $500 per violation.