Walters: The Golden State was a model of transparency. Now it operates in the dark.

Walters: The Golden State was a model of transparency. Now it operates in the dark.

California was once a national leader in requiring public officials to conduct their business — really our business — in public. Beginning with the Ralph M. Brown Act of 1953, which imposed strict limits on secret meetings by local governments, California’s Legislature adopted several “sunshine bills,” as they were dubbed. The Bagley-Keene Act extended the Brown Act’s open meeting requirements to state agencies, while the Public Records Act guar…