Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael P. Callagy, County Executive
Subject: Resolution to make findings relating to remote meetings under the Brown Act
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution finding that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic state of emergency presents 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 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 in a particular location as a condition of participation in, or to constitute a quorum for, a public meeting.
The waivers set forth in the Executive Order expired on October 1, 2021, and absent any further State action, local agency legislative bodies subject to the Brown Act would have been required to fully comply with the Brown Act's meeting requirements as they existed prior to March 2020, including the Brown Act's various restrictions and requirements related to teleconferences.
On September 16, 2021, the Governor signed into law 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 a proclaimed state of emergency, in combination with either (1) local health official recommendations for social distancin...
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