The City Council on Monday, June 22, unanimously adopted policies to comply with recent changes to the Brown Act.
All California cities are making changes to comply with Senate Bill 707. For example, Avalon, on Catalina Island, changed their policies in May to meet the SB707’s July 1 deadline.
The changes include telephone participation by the council and the public.
According to the staff presentation, the law applies to cities with populations of at least 30,000 people (Seal Beach doesn’t qualify) and counties with populations of more than 300,000 (Orange County more than qualifies).
The new policies are aimed at reasonable accommodations for public participation in meetings, allow officials to participate in meetings remotely, and a policy for when internet service or phone service is disrupted during a meeting, according to the staff report.
Background
“The traditional teleconference requirements of posting the address of the teleconference location and allowing public participation from the teleconference location do not apply if the member of the legislative body has a disability for which remote participation is allowed,” according to the staff report by City Clerk Gloria Harper.
“SB 707 adds a new Section 54953.4 that requires specific actions be taken by an ‘eligible legislative body’ to make meetings more accessible to the public. An ‘eligible legislative body’ is defined in Section 54953.4(e)(2) and as applied to the City of Seal Beach, the City Council is an eligible legislative body,” Harper said.
“Starting on July 1, 2026, public meetings held by an eligible legislative body are required to include an opportunity for members of the public to attend via a two-way telephonic service or a two-way audiovisual platform (such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom), commonly referred to as a ‘hybrid meeting.’ The only exception is if adequate telephonic or internet service is not operational at the meeting location,” Harper wrote.
“In addition, staff is proposing a formal reasonable accommodation policy for public participation at Brown Act body meetings,” Harper wrote.
“The City currently handles reasonable accommodation via a policy that is identified on the City’s agendas. This policy is intended to provide more information for purposes of desiring a reasonable accommodation,” Harper wrote.
To request an accommodation, email ci*******@*********ca.gov. One of the state requirements is to provide translation for a language other than English spoken by 20% or more of the city’s population. According to Seal Beach Deputy City Clerk Brandon DeCriscio, Seal Beach didn’t meet that threshold.
According to DeCriscio, who gave the staff presentation, SB707 requires distribution of complete copies of the Brown Act to members of legislative bodies (like the Seal Beach council).
One of the presentation slides described SB707 as an unfunded mandate that would have a significant impact on staff time. It would increase the workload for agenda updates, policy changes, and “limits local control and flexibility by redirecting staff focus,” according to the slide.