SB 751, as amended, Yee. Meetings: publication of action taken.
The Ralph M. Brown Act requires all meetings of the legislative body of a local agency, as defined, to be open and public and prohibits the legislative body from taking action by secret ballot, whether preliminary or final.
This bill would additionally require the legislative body of a local agency to publicly report any action taken and the vote or abstention on that action ofbegin delete everyend deletebegin insert eachend insert member presentbegin insert for the action, thereby imposing a state-mandated local programend insert.
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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 54953 of the Government Code is
2amended to read:
(a) All meetings of the legislative body of a local
4agency shall be open and public, and all persons shall be permitted
5to attend any meeting of the legislative body of a local agency,
6except as otherwise provided in this chapter.
7(b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
8legislative body of a local agency may use teleconferencing for
9the benefit of the public and the legislative body of a local agency
10in connection with any meeting or proceeding authorized by law.
11The teleconferenced meeting or proceeding shall comply with all
12requirements of this chapter and all otherwise applicable provisions
13of law relating to a specific type of meeting or proceeding.
14(2) Teleconferencing, as authorized by this section, may be used
15for all purposes in connection with any meeting within the subject
16matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. All votes taken during
17a teleconferenced meeting shall be by rollcall.
18(3) If the legislative body of a local agency elects to use
19teleconferencing, it shall post agendas at all teleconference
20locations and conduct teleconference meetings in a manner that
21protects the statutory and constitutional rights of the parties or the
22public appearing before the legislative body of a local agency.
23Each teleconference location shall be identified in the notice and
24agenda of the meeting or proceeding, and each teleconference
25location shall be accessible to the public. During the teleconference,
26at least a quorum of the
members of the legislative body shall
27participate from locations within the boundaries of the territory
28over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, except as
29provided in subdivision (d). The agenda shall provide an
30opportunity for members of the public to address the legislative
31body directly pursuant to Section 54954.3 at each teleconference
32location.
33(4) For the purposes of this section, “teleconference” means a
34meeting of a legislative body, the members of which are in different
35locations, connected by electronic means, through either audio or
36video, or both. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a local agency
37from providing the public with additional teleconference locations.
P3 1(c) (1) No legislative body shall take action by secret ballot,
2whether
preliminary or final.
3(2) The legislative body of a local agency shall publicly report
4any action taken and the vote or abstention on that action ofbegin delete everyend delete
5begin insert each end insert member presentbegin insert for the actionend insert.
6(d) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions relating to a quorum in
7paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), when a health authority conducts
8a teleconference meeting, members who are outside the jurisdiction
9of the authority may be counted toward the establishment of a
10quorum when participating in the teleconference if at
least 50
11percent of the number of members that would establish a quorum
12are present within the boundaries of the territory over which the
13authority exercises jurisdiction, and the health authority provides
14a teleconference number, and associated access codes, if any, that
15allows any person to call in to participate in the meeting and that
16number and access codes are identified in the notice and agenda
17of the meeting.
18(2) Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed as
19discouraging health authority members from regularly meeting at
20a common physical site within the jurisdiction of the authority or
21from using teleconference locations within or near the jurisdiction
22of the authority. A teleconference meeting for which a quorum is
23established pursuant to this subdivision shall be subject to all other
24requirements of this section.
25(3) For purposes of this subdivision, a health authority means
26any entity created pursuant to Sections 14018.7, 14087.31,
2714087.35, 14087.36, 14087.38, and 14087.9605 of the Welfare
28and Institutions Code, any joint powers authority created pursuant
29to Article 1 (commencing with Section 6500) of Chapter 5 of
30Division 7 for the purpose of contracting pursuant to Section
3114087.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, and any advisory
32
committee to a county sponsored health plan licensed pursuant to
33Chapter 2.2 (commencing with Section 1340) of Division 2 of the
34Health and Safety Code if the advisory committee has 12 or more
35members.
36(4) This subdivision shall remain in effect only until January 1,
372018.
No reimbursement is required by this act under Section
396 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only
40costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district
P4 1under this act are the costs of complying with Chapter 9
2(commencing with Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title
35 of the Government Code. Subdivision (c) of Section 36 of Article
4XIII of the California Constitution provides that costs of this type
5are not reimbursable.
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