Santa Monica : Caps on Council Comment

Under a new rule imposed by the City Council, those who wish to address the council more than once at one meeting will have their subsequent speaking time reduced.

In a 6-1 vote, with Councilman Kelly Olsen voting no, the council approved the measure Tuesday as an addition to a package aimed at making council meetings more efficient. Earlier this month, the council voted to change the order of the meetings so that items that usually attract the public--consideration of large developments and changes in city law--will come up sooner.

Under the new speaking rule, a first address to the council gets three minutes, a second gets two, and a third gets one minute. Also, speaking time will be reduced to two minutes for a first address when at least 15 people have requested to speak on an item, or when at least 40 people have requested to speak during an entire meeting.

Previously, speakers were granted five minutes to address the council and three minutes for subsequent addresses. Time was limited to three minutes per speaker when there were at least seven requests to speak on one item or at least 20 for the entire meeting.

Joy Fullmer, a resident who frequently addresses the council, was angry about the new rule and said it was aimed at her. “This is more Iraqi terrorism here,” she said. Council officials denied that Fullmer was the target of the measure.