The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, among other things, requires a state body planning to hold a meeting or proceeding by teleconference to post agendas at all teleconference locations, to identify each teleconference location in the notice and agenda, and to make each teleconference location accessible to the public. The law requires the agenda to provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the body directly at each teleconference location.
AB 2958 by Assembly Member Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), now on the Senate Floor, would require advisory boards, commissions, committees, subcommittees, or similar multimember advisory bodies with no rulemaking authority body to:
- designate a primary physical meeting location where a quorum of the members of the advisory body will attend and where participants may physically attend the meeting and participate
- include on the agenda the teleconference phone number and, if applicable, the Internet Web site or other information indicating how the public can access the meeting remotely;
- provide the public a way to hear the meeting or to observe it and to provide public notice, as specified, of how this would be done, if a member participates remotely
- Upon discovering that a means of remote access has failed during a meeting, the bill would require the body to end or adjourn the meeting and would prescribe certain related notice requirements and procedures..
- on and after January 1, 2019, adopt teleconferencing guidelines, as specified, before holding a meeting by teleconference pursuant to these provisions.
The bill would also require a member of a state body participating by teleconference to be listed in the meeting minutes and that notice, as specified, identifying that member be provided to the public at least 24 hours before the meeting.
