Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael Callagy, County Manager
Subject: Resolution to make continuing findings relating to remote meetings under the Brown Act
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution finding that the COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency continues to present imminent risks to the health or safety of attendees and that it continues to directly impact the ability of members of the Board of Supervisors to meet safely in person.
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BACKGROUND:
On June 11, 2021, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-08-21, which rescinded his prior Executive Order N-29-20 and which waived, through September 30, 2021, certain provisions of the Brown Act relating to teleconferences/remote meetings by local agency legislative bodies. The Executive Order waived, among other things, the provisions of the Brown Act that otherwise required the physical presence of members of local agency legislative bodies or other personnel in a particular location as a condition of participation or as a quorum for a public meeting.
If these waivers set forth in the Executive Order were to fully sunset on October 1, 2021, and absent any further State action, local agency legislative bodies subject to the Brown Act would be required to fully comply with the Brown Act's meeting requirements as they existed prior to March 2020, including the requirement that the public be afforded physical access to all teleconference locations from which board members were participating.
On September 16, 2021, the Governor signed Assembly Bill (AB) 361, a bill that came into effect immediately and that codifies certain of the teleconference procedures that local agencies have adopted in response to the Governor's Brown Act-related Executive Orders. Specifically, AB 361 allows a local agency to continue to use teleconferencing under the same basic rules as provided in the Executive Orders as long as there is ...
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