Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael P. Callagy, County Executive
Subject: Resolution reauthorizing online meetings for advisory committees
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution finding that remote member attendance at meetings of eligible subsidiary bodies established by the Board of Supervisors would enhance public access and promote the attraction, retention, and diversity of members of advisory commissions, and reauthorizing fully online meetings for eligible subsidiary bodies.
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BACKGROUND:
The Board of Supervisors has established a number of advisory commissions, boards, and committees whose special expertise and focused attention on their respective subject matters have greatly enhanced the decision-making of County agencies, including the Board of Supervisors itself.
These boards and commissions are almost without exception subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act, requiring public meetings and regulating the manner in which members may, on occasion, participate remotely.
The members of these advisory commissions are overwhelmingly volunteers who generously commit their time. The legal requirement that the members physically travel from across the County to attend in-person meetings, and the tight restrictions placed on allowing telephonic participation or two-way audio-visual platform participation, has on occasion resulted in the inability to conduct meetings with the full complement of members, thereby limiting the participation of the membership and denying the public the opportunity to address all of the members at meetings. The County has lost several volunteer members who found the requirements too onerous to continue their positions, and the feedback received is that these members might have been able to participate more fully and for longer terms if there had been more flexibility in the ability to participate in meetings remotely. Unfortunately, however, the strictures of the Brown Act did not make that flexibility a matter of local policy.
Over time, in-person meeting requirements and inflexible rules for online meeting participation can have a negative impact on the diversity of the membership on advisory committees, due to the heavier impact these requirements can have on primary caregivers, hourly workers, the elderly, persons with disabilities, rural residents, and others whose voices are needed in shaping public policy.
Meanwhile, the public has grown familiar with online meeting platforms such as Zoom, which allow members of the public to view meetings on Internet-connected devices and virtually attend them through two-way audio-visual participation. Additionally, the option of a teleconference meeting using a two-way audio-visual platform, when allowed by law, is already something of which County residents are aware. The County already uses these platforms to allow public participation and comment from remote locations, and members of this Board and its advisory commissions already use these platforms on a limited basis when allowed due to exigent circumstances.
DISCUSSION:
On October 3, 2025, the Governor signed SB 707 (Durazo), a Senate Bill that amended the Ralph M. Brown Act a manner that authorizes local agencies to permit remote attendance at meetings of “eligible subsidiary bodies” when doing so would, considering the circumstances of each eligible subsidiary body, enhance public access and promote the attraction, retention and diversity of the members of the eligible subsidiary body members. The law went into effect on January 1, 2026.
Pursuant to Section 54953.8.6 of the Government Code, an eligible subsidiary body may conduct teleconference meetings pursuant to Section 54953.8, provided that it follows certain requirements and that the legislative body that established the eligible subsidiary body makes certain findings by charter, ordinance, resolution or other formal action. A prerequisite to utilizing this law is that the Board of Supervisors must take action to give permission to its advisory commissions to hold fully online meetings.
In early 2026, the County Executive, in consultation with the County Attorney, prepared a list of the advisory commissions that constitute “eligible subsidiary bodies” that are entitled to hold fully online meetings if authorized by this Board. A list of the eligible subsidiary bodies is attached to the Resolution as Attachment 1. Some boards and commissions are ineligible for various reasons, including: (1) they are not purely advisory, and have the ability to make decisions in more than an advisory capacity, such as the approval of grants or contracts or the issuance of permits; (2) they have primary subject matter jurisdiction that focuses on elections, budgets, police oversight, privacy, removing from, or restricting access to, materials available in public libraries, or taxes or related spending proposals; or (3) they consist entirely of elected officials, who are prohibited from participating remotely by Section 54953.8.6(a)(3). Examples of ineligible bodies include the Planning Commission (decision-making), the Midcoast Community Council (elected), the Independent Civilian Advisory Commission on the Sheriff's Office (subject matter jurisdiction), and the Measure K Oversight Committee (subject matter jurisdiction). The County Executive recommended allowing fully online meetings for all eligible subsidiary bodies. The only exclusions from Attachment 1 are the bodies believed to be ineligible under SB 707.
On February 10, 2026, this Board adopted Resolution 081678 authorizing the eligible subsidiary bodies listed in Attachment 1 to begin to conduct meetings that allow remote member attendance. The Government Code requires that this authorization be periodically renewed every six months; the County Executive recommends adoption of a new Resolution in order to continue to allow remote member attendance where is was previously authorized. No substantive changes from the February 10, 2026 authorization are proposed at this time.
The County Attorney has reviewed and approved the proposed Resolution as to form.
COMMUNITY IMPACT:
The recommended action advances equity by enabling more and diverse members of the community to volunteer to serve on advisory boards and commissions.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The only projected fiscal impact would relate to the law’s requirement that the County provide a physical location for the public to make public comment, even for fully online meetings, and provide at least one staff member present in the room. The County Executive will, if the Resolution is adopted, ensure that advisory commission meetings are staffed in a manner that ensures compliance with the law.