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By David Loy – May 12, 2026
For years, until they were exposed, Fresno city officials formulated record-breaking city budgets behind closed doors — no public notice, no agendas, no minutes, and no opportunity for residents to weigh in.
Today — two and a half years later — a Fresno Superior Court judge said: That’s illegal.
The First Amendment Coalition and the ACLU Foundation of Northern California first demanded that the City of Fresno promised to stop holding secret budget meetings in September 2023. When the City refused to commit, we sued. Then we worked and waited — through motions, legal filings, hearings, and the slow grind of the court system — for the ruling that finally came down this week.
Two and a half years is a long time. But open government doesn’t come with a shortcut.
The court confirmed what we always knew: Fresno’s Budget Committee is a standing committee subject to California’s Brown Act, and the City broke the law every time it shut the public out. The City had argued its committee was exempt. The court disagreed — and so did the council’s own 2023 vote to formally recognize the committee as a standing body.
This ruling makes clear that secret budget committee deliberations are not just bad policy — they are illegal.
This kind of persistence costs money. Legal work spanning two and a half years means hundreds of hours of attorney time, court filings, and an organization with the resolve to see it through — even when the other side is a city government with deep pockets and every incentive to fight and delay.
Victories like this one don’t come quickly. But with your help, they do come.
David Loy, Legal Director
First Amendment Coalition
