EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
EXECUTIVE ORDER N-1-22
WHEREAS on March 4, 2020, I proclaimed a State of Emergency to exist in California as a result of the threat of COVID-19; and WHEREAS on March 12, 2021, I issued Executive Order N-25-20, paragraph 11, and on March 17, 2020, I issued Executive Order N-29-20, paragraph 3, waiving certain requirements that public meetings of state bodies occur in-person; and
WHEREAS on June 11, 2021, I issued Executive Order N-08-21 to roll back certain provisions of my COVID-19-related Executive Orders and to clarify that other provisions remained necessary to help California respond to, recover from, and mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic:
WHEREAS paragraph 42 of Executive Order N-08-21 specified that the waiver of requirements that public meetings of state bodies occur in- person would be valid through September 30, 2021; and
WHEREAS on September 16, 2021, I signed into law Assembly Bill 361 (AB 361), which amended the Government Code and Education Code to provide additional flexibility for state bodies to conduct public meetings via teleconference through January 31, 2022; and
WHEREAS since Thanksgiving, the statewide seven-day average case rate has increased by 805% and the number of COVID-19 hospitalized patients has increased by 154%; and
WHEREAS this surge is being driven by the recent emergence of the Omicron variant, which has recently been estimated to account for approximately 70% of cases sequenced nationally; and
WHEREAS early data suggest that the Omicron variant is more transmissible than the Delta variant; and
WHEREAS requiring large numbers of individuals to gather, and potentially travel long distances, for in-person public meetings could potentially, and unnecessarily, expose numerous people to COVID-19, further contribute to the ongoing surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant, compound disruptions to our economy, and undermine public health measures during the current State of Emergency; and WHEREAS when the Legislature considered AB 361 this past fall, the Omicron variant had not emerged, and the virus had not demonstrated the ability to evade immunity; and
WHEREAS in light of the present surge in cases due to the Omicron variant, and to protect the public health and safety, it is necessary to temporarily extend the flexibilities for state bodies to conduct teleconferences under AB 361 beyond January 31, 2022, to provide state bodies the option of conducting public meetings remotely to reduce the risk of in-person exposure to members of the staff body, staff, and members of the public; and
WHEREAS under the provisions of Government Code section 8571, I find that strict compliance with the statutes specified in this Order would prevent, hinder, or delay appropriate actions to prevent and mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, in accordance with the authority vested in me by the State Constitution and statutes, and in particular, Government Code sections 8567, 8571, and 8627 do hereby issue the following Order to become effective immediately:
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
1. The sunset dates in Education Code section 89305.6, subdivision (g), and Government Code section 11133, subdivision (g), are suspended until March 31, 2022.
2. This Order shall expire at 11:59 p.m. on April 1, 2022.
I FURTHER DIRECT that as soon as hereafter possible, this Order be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State and that widespread publicity and notice be given of this Order.
This Order is not intended to, and does not, create any rights or benefits, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity, against the State of California, its agencies, departments, entities, officers, employees, or any other person.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have
hereunto set my hand and caused
the Great Seal of the State of
California to be affixed this 5th day
of January 2022.
GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California
ATTEST:
SHIRLEY WEBER, PH.D.
Secretary of State