It's worked in our neighborhood, there are no specific laws governing recordings in board meetings. Look in the Davis-stirling act and they will give the specifics to recordings. The boards will try to say no recordings and that usually means they have something to hide, but unless they follow the proper guidelines to ban them, they are fair game.
See http://www.youtube.com/homewoodveto. I stood my ground and we won a lawsuit based on Civil Code violations 1363.03. try spy-pen.org for a great idea!
