Larry Klein
Mayor
Omar Din
Vice Mayor
Russ Melton
Councilmember
Alysa Cisneros
Councilmember
Richard Mehlinger
Councilmember
Murali Srinivasan
Councilmember
Linda Sell
Councilmember
September 29, 2023
The Honor
able Governor Gavin Newsom
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
VIA Ema
il: [email protected]
RE: A
B 557 (Hart): Open meetings: Local agencies: Teleconferences. –
REQUEST FOR SIGNATURE
Dear
Governor Newsom:
On behal
f of the City of Sunnyvale, we request your signature on AB 557 (Hart), related to emergency remote meeting procedures under the Ralph M. Brown Act.
The cha
nges made to California Government Code section 54953 by Assembly Bill 361 (R. Rivas, 2021) were of vital importance to local agencies looking to meet during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to continue to conduct the people’s business. These changes were necessary to permit local agencies to meet during a time that would have otherwise been impossible to meet in person safely. While California seeks to transition to a post-COVID era, the threat of additional emergencies remains, as has been made abundantly clear by recent flooding and wildfires.
Absent
any legislative intervention, the processes established by AB 361 to provide remote meeting flexibility to local agencies in emergency circumstances will expire at the end of this year. To remain best equipped to address future emergencies and allow local agencies to effectively react and respond, AB 557 would eliminate the sunset on the emergency remote meeting procedures added to California Government Code section 54953. Additionally, AB 557 would adjust the timeframe for the resolutions passed to renew an agency’s temporary transition to emergency remote meetings to 45 days, up from the previous number of 30 days. Providing these additional 15 days will allow government meetings regularly scheduled once per month to continue the regular meeting cadence during an emergency. Maintaining a regular meeting schedule helps ensure meetings occur when anticipated by the public.
Attachment 2
The Honorable Governor Gavin Newsom
September 29, 2023
Current City of Sunnyvale policy supports legislation to modernize the Ralph M.
Brown Act as it pertains to teleconferencing during public meetings and urges the Legislature to provide more flexibility for cities and intergovernmental boards to improve and enhance, should the agency choose to do so, remote access for public officials in public meetings. (Sunnyvale Council Policy 7.0F(7)).
This
legislation will preserve an effective tool for the City of Sunnyvale when facing emergencies that would otherwise prevent us from conducting the people’s business when faced with an emergency.
For t
hese reasons, we request your signature on AB 557 (Hart). Please do not hesitate to contact me or David Carnahan, City Clerk, at [email protected] or 408- 730-7918 if you have any questions.
Sinc
erely,
Larry
Klein
Mayor
cc: The
Honorable Gregg Hart, State Assembly
The Honorable Evan Low, State Assembly
The Honorable Aisha Wahab, State Senate
The Honorable Josh Becker, State Senate
City Council
Kent Steffens, City Manager
Teri Silva, Assistant City Manager
Seth Miller, League of California Cities, Peninsula Division Public Affairs Manager, [email protected]
League of California Cities, [email protected]
Attachment 2