The preamble to the Brown Act? A reporter wrote it…

“The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them.

“The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.

“The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”

—Preamble to the Ralph M. Brown Act, 1953, written by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Michael Harris

Publishing something for Sunshine Week? Consider having a look at: “Meet the Young Reporter Whose Stories on Government Secrecy Led to Creating California’s Open Meetings Act,” by the late Tracy Wood in Voice of OC