These meetings were in violation of California's main sunshine law, the Brown Act, which prohibits discussion or action on proposed legislation - like the encampment policy - by a majority of the council, outside of a public meeting. This provision of the Brown Act is supposed to ensure that no important discussions or decisions impacting the public happen behind closed doors without allowing community members to weigh in.
The glitch appears rooted in a broader, little-publicized push to silence police scanner traffic across Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Until that technological snafu, dozens of agencies this week had timed their scanners to go dark to the public throughout the East Bay Regional Communications System Authority the board overseeing a switch that has been widely condemned by police accountability and open government advocates.