Open meetings: meeting and teleconference requirements.

(1) Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a legislative body, as defined, of a local agency be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2026, and until January 1, 2030, require an eligible legislative body, as defined, to comply with additional meeting requirements, including that, except as specified, all open and public meetings include an opportunity for members of the public to attend via a 2-way telephonic service or a 2-way audiovisual platform, as defined, and that the eligible legislative body take specified actions to encourage residents to participate in public meetings, as specified. The bill would require an eligible legislative body, on or before July 1, 2026, to approve at a noticed public meeting in open session a policy regarding disruption of telephonic or internet services occurring during meetings subject to these provisions, as specified, and would require the eligible legislative body to comply with certain requirements relating to disruption, including for certain disruptions, recessing the open session for at least one hour and making a good faith attempt to restore the service, as specified. (2) Existing law prohibits a majority of the members of a legislative body, outside a meeting authorized by the act, from using a series of communications of any kind to discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item of business that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. Existing law defines "meetings" for these purposes to mean any congregation of a majority of the members of a legislative body at the same time and location, as specified, to hear, discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. Until January 1, 2026, existing law excepts from the prohibition a member engaging in separate conversations or communications outside of a meeting with any other person using an internet-based social media platform for specified purposes, provided, among other things, that a majority of the members do not use the internet-based social media platform to discuss among themselves business of a specific nature that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. This bill would make the above-described exception related to communications on an internet-based social media platform applicable indefinitely. (3) Existing law requires a legislative body, prior to taking final action, to orally report a summary of a recommendation for a final action on specified forms of compensation for a local agency executive, as defined, during the open meeting in which the final action is to be taken. This bill would also require the legislative body to make that oral report, as provided above, prior to taking final action on those specified forms of compensation for a department head or other similar administrative officer of the local agency. (4) Existing law requires a legislative body of a local agency or its designee, at least 72 hours before a regular meeting, to post an agenda that meets specified requirements, including that the agenda contain a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed at the meeting, as specified. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2026, and until July 1, 2030, require the agenda for each meeting of an eligible legislative body, as defined, to be translated into all applicable languages. The bill would define "applicable languages" to mean languages, according to data from the most recent American Community Survey, spoken jointly by 20% or more of the applicable population, as specified, provided that 20% or more of the population that speaks that language that in that city or county speaks English less than "very well," as specified, and except as provided. Existing law requires every agenda for regular meetings to provide an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the legislative body on any item of interest of the public, as specified. Existing law specifies that the agenda is not required to provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the legislative body on any item that has already been considered by a committee, as specified, except if the item has been substantially changed since the committee heard the item, as determined by the legislative body. This bill would add certain exceptions to the provision related to an item that has already been considered by a committee, including excepting committees whose primary subject matter jurisdiction focuses on elections, budgets, police oversight, privacy, removing from, or restricting access to, materials available in public libraries, or taxes or related spending proposals, except as specified. (5) Existing law authorizes a legislative body of a local agency to require a copy of the act to be given to each member of the legislative body and specified persons elected to serve as a member of the legislative body, and authorizes an elected legislative body member to require a copy to be given to each member of each legislative body all or a majority of whose members are appointed by or under the authority of the elected legislative body. This bill would instead require a local agency to provide a copy of the act to any person elected or appointed to serve as a member of a legislative body of the local agency. Existing law authorizes legislative bodies of local agencies to impose requirements upon themselves which allow greater access to their meetings than prescribed by the minimal standards set forth in the act, and authorizes an elected legislative body of a local agency to also impose those requirements on those appointed legislative bodies of the local agency of which all or a majority of the members are appointed by or under the authority of the elected legislative body. This bill would remove the above-described requirement that members of an appointed legislative body of a local agency must be appointed by or under the authority of the elected legislative body of a local agency in order for the elected legislative body to impose the above-described requirements on the appointed legislative body. (6) Existing law provides any person attending an open and public meeting of a legislative body of a local agency with the right to record the proceedings with an audio or visual recorder or a still or motion picture camera, as specified. This bill would remove the reference to an audio or visual recorder or a still or motion picture camera for purposes of recording the proceedings, as described above. (7) Existing law authorizes a legislative body of a local agency to use teleconferencing, as specified, and requires a legislative body of a local agency that elects to use teleconferencing to comply with specified general requirements, including that the local agency post agendas at all teleconference locations, identify each teleconference location in the notice and agenda of the meeting or proceeding, and have each teleconference location be accessible to the public. Existing law also requires that, during the teleconference, at least a quorum of the members of the legislative body participate from locations within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, except as specified. Existing law authorizes members who are outside the jurisdiction of a health authority, as defined, that conducts a teleconferencing meeting to, notwithstanding the above-described general teleconference provisions, count towards the establishment of a quorum when participating in the teleconference if, among other things, at least 50% of the number of members that would establish a quorum are present within the boundaries of the territory over which the authority exercises jurisdiction. Existing law authorizes, in certain circumstances, the legislative body of a local agency to use specified alternative teleconferencing which include provisions related to, among others, notice of the means by which members of the public may access the meeting and offer public comment and identifying and including an opportunity for all persons to attend via a call-in option or an internet-based service option. Those circumstances in which the legislative body of a local agency is authorized to use the alternative teleconferencing provisions include specified circumstances relating to a state of emergency, as defined, and, until January 1, 2026, subject to specified limitations, a member's need to participate remotely due to just cause, defined to include, among other things, a need related to a physical or mental disability, or emergency circumstances, as defined, if certain quorum and disclosure requirements are met. Existing law also authorizes certain eligible legislative bodies, including neighborhood councils and student body associations and student-run community college organizations to, until January 1, 2026, use alternate teleconferencing if, among other requirements, the city council or board of trustees, as applicable, has adopted an authorizing resolution and 23 of the neighborhood city council or specified student organization, as applicable, votes to use alternate teleconference provisions, as specified. This bill would revise and recast the above-specified teleconferencing and alternative teleconferencing provisions to uniformly apply certain noticing, disclosure, accessibility, and public commenting provisions. The bill would require a legislative body of a local agency that elects to use teleconferencing pursuant to these alternative teleconferencing provisions to comply with, in addition to any other applicable requirements under the act, specified requirements, including that the legislative body provides at least either 2-way audiovisual platform or 2-way telephonic service and a live webcasting of the meeting as a means by which the public may, among other things, remotely hear and visually observe the meeting, and that a member of the legislative body who participates in a teleconference meeting from a remote location pursuant to these alternative teleconferencing provisions and the specific provision of law that the member relied upon to permit their participation by teleconferencing are listed in the minutes of the meeting. The bill would require a local agency to identify and make available to legislative bodies a list of one or more meeting locations that may be available for use by the legislative bodies to conduct their meetings. The bill would specify that nothing in the bill's provisions is to be construed to prohibit a member of a legislative body with a disability, as defined, from participating in any meeting of the legislative body by remote participation as a reasonable accommodation pursuant to any applicable law. The bill would apply certain provisions relative to, among other things, quorum establishment to that circumstance. The bill would instead authorize a health authority, as defined, to conduct a teleconference meeting pursuant to the above-described alternative teleconferencing provisions. The bill would revise and recast the alternative teleconferencing provisions applicable in a state of emergency, as defined. The bill would also include a local emergency, as defined, as a circumstance in which a legislative body of a local agency is authorized to use the alternative teleconferencing provisions. The bill would revise and recast the alternative teleconferencing provisions applicable in cases of a member's need to participate remotely due to just cause or emergency circumstances, as defined, to remove the provision applicable to emergency circumstances, to revise related definitions, including broadening the definition of just cause to include, among other things, a physical or family medical emergency that prevents a member from attending in person, and to require the minutes for a meeting to identify the specific provision of law that each member relied upon to participate remotely, as specified. The bill would extend the authorization to use the alternative teleconferencing provision until January 1, 2030. The bill would revise and recast the alternative teleconferencing provisions applicable to neighborhood councils and student body associations and student-run community college organizations. In regards to the alternative teleconferencing provisions applicable to student body associations and student-run community college organizations, the bill would exempt the California Online Community College from specified requirements for an in-person quorum, a physical location for public participation, and certain accommodations under the authorization, and remove the ability for a person with a disability that requires certain accommodations to count towards the in-person quorum requirement. The bill would specify that the student body associations and student-run community college organizations described above are those in any community college recognized within the California Community Colleges system, and would extend the authorization to the Student Senate for California Community Colleges. The bill would extend the authorization to use the alternative teleconferencing provisions applicable to neighborhood councils and student body associations and student-run community college organizations until January 1, 2030. The bill would, until January 1, 2030, also authorize a specified subsidiary body of local agencies to conduct a teleconference meeting pursuant to the above-described alternative teleconferencing provisions, provided that it complies with the requirements for alternative teleconferencing described above and additional requirements, including that the subsidiary body designates one physical meeting location within the boundaries of the legislative body that created the subsidiary body where members of the subsidiary body who are not participating remotely shall be present and members of the public may physically attend, observe, hear, and participate in the meeting, as specified. The bill would, until January 1, 2030, also authorize specified multijurisdictional bodies of local agencies to conduct a teleconference meeting pursuant to the above-described alternative teleconferencing provisions, provided that it complies with the requirements for alternative teleconferencing described above and additional requirements, including that the eligible multijurisdictional body has adopted a resolution that authorizes the multijurisdictional body to use teleconferencing at a regular meeting in open session. The bill would specify that these teleconferencing provisions are cumulative, and would authorize a legislative body to elect to use any teleconferencing provisions that are applicable to a meeting, regardless of whether any other teleconferencing provisions would also be applicable to that meeting. Existing law defines "teleconference" for purposes of the authorization for a legislative body of a local agency to use teleconferencing to mean a meeting of a legislative body, the members of which are in different locations, connected by electronic means, through either audio or video, or both. This bill would specify that "teleconference" does not include the attendance of one or more members of a legislative body in a meeting of the body solely by watching or listening via webcasting or any other similar electronic medium that does not permit members to interactively speak, discuss, or deliberate on matters. (8) Existing law authorizes a special meeting to be called any time by, among other persons, the presiding officer of the legislative body of a local agency, by delivering specified written notices and posting a notice on the local agency's internet website, if the local agency has one. Existing law requires specified legislative bodies to comply with the internet website posting requirement. The bill would remove the requirement that only specified legislative bodies comply with the internet website posting requirement, thereby imposing that requirement on all legislative bodies. (9) Existing law authorizes a legislative body of a local agency to hold an emergency meeting without complying with specified notice and posting requirements in the case of emergency circumstances, as specified, and imposes various requirements under these provisions applicable to either legislative bodies generally or legislative bodies which are a school board. This bill would remove the school board distinction from the above-described provisions, thereby imposing the same requirements to hold an emergency meeting on all legislative bodies of local agencies. By imposing additional duties on legislative bodies of local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (10) Existing law authorizes, in addition to other related specified authorizations, the presiding member of the legislative body conducting a meeting or their designee to remove, or cause the removal of, an individual for disrupting the meeting. Existing law defines "disrupting" for these purposes to mean engaging in behavior during a meeting of a legislative body that actually disrupts, disturbs, impedes, or renders infeasible the orderly conduct of the meeting, as specified. This bill would specify that a meeting for purposes of that provision includes any teleconferenced meeting. The bill would specify that the existing authority of a legislative body or its presiding officer to remove or limit participation by persons who engage in behavior that actually disrupts, disturbs, impedes, or renders infeasible the orderly conduct of the meeting, as specified, applies to members of the public participating in a meeting via a 2-way telephonic service or a 2-way audiovisual platform, as those terms are defined. (11) The bill would make other updates to references in the act. (12) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (13) The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (14) The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. (15) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.