Regulatory Requirements

The Brown Act

The Ralph M. Brown Act governs meetings conducted by local legislative bodies, such as boards of supervisors, city councils and special districts like the Pajaro Valley Health Care District. The Act represents the California Legislature’s determination of how the balance should be struck between public access to meetings of multi-member public bodies on the one hand and the need for confidential candor, debate, and information gathering on the other.

The Brown Act ensures public access to District meetings. For example, the times and dates of all meetings must be noticed and an agenda must be prepared providing a brief general description of all matters to be discussed or considered at the meeting. As a general rule, information given to a majority of the board members in connection with an open meeting must be equally available to members of the public. Before or during consideration of each agenda item, the public must be given an opportunity to comment on the item. While the Brown Act creates broad public access rights to the meetings of legislative bodies, it also recognizes the legitimate needs of government to conduct some of its meetings outside of the public eye. Closed session meetings are specifically defined and are limited in scope. They primarily involve topics such as personnel issues, pending litigation, labor negotiations or real property acquisitions.

California Public Records Act

The California Public Records Act (CPRA) requires that government records be disclosed to the public, upon request, unless there are privacy and/or public safety exemptions which would prevent doing so. Please see the California Attorney General’s Office Summary of the California Public Records Act (pdf) for additional information.

If you would like to request access to a public record from the Pajaro Valley Health Care District, please make your request on our Contact Us page, and specify that you are making a public records request.

Title 22

In California, healthcare districts are primarily regulated by Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR), which outlines comprehensive health and safety standards for licensed care facilities, including staffing, infrastructure, healthcare procedures, and resident rights; these regulations are enforced by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and apply to all aspects of a healthcare district's operations, including patient care, facility maintenance, and staff qualifications. 

Local Agency Formation Commission of Santa Cruz County

The Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) of Santa Cruz County determines the most logical provider of public services and has jurisdiction over the 4 cities, 22 independent special districts, and 54 county service areas.  The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 states that among the purposes of a Local Agency Formation Commission are discouraging urban sprawl, preserving open-space and prime agricultural lands, efficiently providing governmental services, and encouraging the orderly formation and development of local agencies based upon local conditions and circumstances.  Senate Bill 418, which created the Pajaro Valley Health Care District, made the district subject to LAFCO oversight for future changes.  A subsequent bill, Senate Bill 969, was later signed to clearly outline LAFCO's authority and requirements for the newly formed district. 

On November 5, 2025, Santa Cruz's LAFCO adopted the below Service and Sphere of Influence Review which provides information about the services and boundaries of the Pajaro Valley Health Care District. The report will be used by the Local Agency Formation Commission to conduct its statutorily required review and update process. The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act requires that the Commission conduct periodic reviews and updates of Spheres of Influence for all cities and districts in Santa Cruz County (Government Code section 56425). It also requires LAFCO to conduct a review of municipal services before adopting Sphere updates (Government Code section 56430). Finally, this report represents a significant milestone as it serves as the inaugural service and sphere of influence review for the healthcare district.