City Council Staff Report Page 1 of 5 May 12, 2026
Staff Report
Agenda Item No. 5.3
DATE: May 12, 2026
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Kris Kokotaylo, City Attorney
Thai Nam Pham, City Clerk
SUBJECT: Adopt a Resolution Approving the City of Union City SB 707 Meeting Disruption Policy and Receive an Informational Update Regarding SB 707 and Title II Accessibility Compliance Efforts
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Governor signed Senate Bill 707 (“SB 707”) into law in 2025. SB 707 establishes new requirements under the Brown Act regarding how qualifying public agencies, including the City of Union City, must provide access and allow participation to certain public meetings, including providing remote access beginning July 1, 2026. As a result, the City Council must allow members of the public to attend and provide public comment remotely during open meetings.
SB 707 also requires that the City Council adopt a policy, as a non-consent item, regarding how the City will respond to a remote meeting technology failure. The meeting disruption policy applies when telephonic or internet service is interrupted in a way that prevents the public from attending, observing, or commenting remotely.
The Legislation and Policy Committee reviewed the proposed SB 707 Meeting Disruption Policy on April 20, 2026, and approved forwarding the policy to the City Council as presented.
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the attached resolution approving the City of Union City SB 707 Meeting Disruption Policy.
Staff is also providing an informational update on related SB 707 and accessibility implementation efforts, including hybrid City Council meetings, the translated agenda bulletin board, public comment procedures, and the planned use of Wordly for live translation and captioning.
STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT
Goal B. Governance and Organization Effectiveness:
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Commit to local government best practices and organizational effectiveness through transparency, accessibility, public participation, and compliance with evolving legal requirements, including Senate Bill 707 and Title II accessibility standards.
Goal E. Communication and Outreach:
Enhance public engagement and accessibility by expanding multilingual communication tools, hybrid public participation opportunities, live captioning, and digital accessibility resources for residents and community stakeholders.
BACKGROUND
SB 707 was signed into law in 2025 and the remote meeting components of SB 707 will become operative on July 1, 2026. SB 707 updates portions of the Ralph M. Brown Act related to public meeting access, teleconferencing, remote participation, public comment, translated agendas, and meeting accessibility.
Beginning July 1, 2026, the City Council is required to provide a method for the public to attend and participate remotely during open public meetings. This may be done through a two-way telephonic service, a two-way audiovisual platform, or another method allowed by law.
SB 707 also requires the City Council to adopt a disruption policy before July 1, 2026.
The policy must explain how the City will respond if telephonic or internet service is disrupted during a meeting.
On April 20, 2026, the Legislation and Policy Committee reviewed the proposed SB 707 Meeting Disruption Policy. The Committee approved the policy as presented and directed staff to bring it forward to the full City Council for adoption.
Staff also provided the Committee with an update on other SB 707 and accessibilityrelated implementation items, including:
• Returning to hybrid City Council meetings beginning July 1, 2026; • Providing remote public comment through Zoom or another remote participation platform;
• Installing a bulletin board for members of the public to post translated agendas; • Implementing Wordly for live translation and captioning; and • Continuing work on Title II accessibility compliance.
DISCUSSION
SB 707 Meeting Disruption Policy
The proposed policy explains what the City will do if remote access fails during a City Council meeting.
A disruption may occur if telephonic or internet service fails and members of the public are prevented from attending, observing, or providing public comment remotely.
If that happens, the policy requires the City Council to recess the open session and make good-faith efforts to restore the service. SB 707 requires the open session to remain Agenda Item No. 5.3
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recessed for at least one hour unless service is restored sooner.
If service is restored, the City Council may resume the open session.
If service cannot be restored after the required recess period, the City Council may continue the meeting only after making findings by roll-call vote that:
1. Good-faith efforts were made to restore the service; and
2. The public interest in continuing the meeting outweighs the public interest in remote public access.
The policy also requires the disruption and related actions to be documented in the meeting minutes.
Adoption of the attached resolution will formally approve the City of Union City SB 707 Meeting Disruption Policy.
Hybrid City Council Meetings
Beginning July 1, 2026, City Council meetings will return to a hybrid format. Members of the public will continue to have the option to attend in person, and they will also be able to attend and provide public comment remotely.
The City currently livestreams City Council meetings through Zoom. Under SB 707, the City will also need to allow real-time remote public comment.
This will require staff to manage both in-person speaker cards and remote speakers during the same meeting.
Public Comment Procedures
Staff discussed public comment procedures with the Legislation and Policy Committee because hybrid meetings will change how speaker counts are managed.
For example, at an in-person meeting, staff can count speaker cards before an item begins. In a hybrid meeting, additional speakers may join remotely or raise their hands.
The Committee concurred with maintaining flexibility rather than adopting fixed public comment time thresholds at this time. This will allow the Mayor, with staff support, to manage public comment based on the number of speakers for each item.
Staff will continue refining internal procedures for recognizing remote speakers, tracking speaker counts, and clearly announcing public comment instructions during meetings.
Translated Agenda Bulletin Board
SB 707 requires the City to provide a physical location where members of the public may post translated versions of City meeting agendas.
To comply with this requirement, staff has installed a separate bulletin board near the Agenda Item No. 5.3
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existing official agenda posting board at City Hall.
The official City agenda will continue to be the English-language agenda prepared and posted by the City. The separate bulletin board will be used for public-posted translated agendas.
Wordly Live Translation and Captioning
Staff is preparing to implement Wordly, an AI-based live translation and captioning platform, for City Council and Planning Commission meetings.
Wordly will allow meeting attendees to scan a QR code and select a preferred language on their personal device. The platform can provide real-time translation and captioning during the meeting.
Although Union City does not currently meet the SB 707 threshold requiring translated agendas based on American Community Survey language data, staff believes Wordly will improve access for residents and support broader communication goals.
Staff expects Wordly to support languages commonly used in Union City, including Tagalog, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Punjabi, among others.
Title II Accessibility Compliance
Staff is also continuing to monitor and implement requirements related to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The United States Department of Justice has adopted accessibility rules for web content and mobile applications used by state and local governments. These rules are intended to ensure that online public services, documents, videos, and digital tools are accessible to individuals with disabilities.
The City’s use of live captioning, improved meeting access information, and accessible public meeting procedures supports the City’s broader Title II compliance efforts.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no direct fiscal impact associated with adopting the resolution approving the SB 707 Meeting Disruption Policy.
Costs associated with SB 707 implementation, hybrid meeting operations, translation services, captioning services, and digital accessibility improvements will be handled through existing and future operational budgets.
Where appropriate, PEG funds may be used for eligible audiovisual, captioning, and meeting accessibility improvements.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council:
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1. Adopt a Resolution Approving the City of Union City SB 707 Meeting Disruption Policy; and
2. Receive the informational update regarding SB 707 and Title II accessibility compliance efforts.
Prepared by: Thai Nam Pham, City Clerk
Submitted by: Thai Nam Pham, City Clerk
Attachments
1. Resolution Approving the City of Union City SB 707 Meeting Disruption Policy
2. Exhibit A - City of Union City SB 707 Meeting Disruption Policy