Senator Portantino Introduces Bill to Ensure LA Neighborhood Councils’ Ability to Conduct Virtual Meetings

Friday, February 10 2023

For Immediate Release: February 10, 2023

Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400

 

Senator Portantino Introduces Bill to Ensure LA Neighborhood Councils’ Ability to Conduct Virtual Meetings

Sacramento, California This week Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) introduced Senate Bill 411, a measure which ensures that Neighborhood Councils, boards, and commissions in the City of Los Angeles can continue serving their constituents uninterrupted by extending appropriate COVID-19 pandemic provisions that allow for virtual meetings.

“Public participation is vital to vibrant discourse.  Virtual meetings during the pandemic have fostered easier access to appointed and elected bodies of local agencies and increased public participation which has improved the democratic process,” stated Senator Portantino. “It has also made it easier for folks with travel difficulties to participate and councils to have quorums.  All good outcomes.”

“Virtual meetings have dramatically improved access to local government and increased public  participation in the legislative process. It is time to modernize the Brown Act so that local governments can continue using this valuable tool to remain responsive to our constituents’ needs,” said Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian.  “Neighborhood councils are a distinctive feature of civic life in Los Angeles, allowing robust participation in local government. SB 411 will ensure that Los Angeles’ 180+ Neighborhood Councils, Council Committees, boards and commissions will have the option to continue meeting virtually and provide our constituents with the greatest possible opportunity for public participation.”

In March of 2020, the Governor issued Executive Order N-29-20, which stated that, "Not-withstanding any other provision of state or local law (including, but not limited to, the Bagley-Keene Act or the Brown Act), and subject to the notice and accessibility require-ments set forth below, a local legislative body or state body is authorized to hold public meetings via teleconferencing and to make public meetings accessible telephonically or otherwise electronically to all members of the public seeking to observe and to address the local legislative body or state body.  All requirements in both the Bagley-Keene Act and the Brown Act expressly or impliedly requiring the physical presence of members, the clerk or other personnel of the body, or of the public as a condition of participation in or quorum for a public meeting are hereby waived.”

Virtual public meetings, allowed by Executive Order of the Governor, permitted local governments to remain operational during the pandemic via virtual teleconference. Because the Governor’s Emergency Orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic are ending this month, local governments will only be able to use virtual meetings temporarily during emergencies. This will have the effect of reducing public participation and reduce the pool of applicants who have the desire and ability to serve. The effect of this transition back to in-person meetings will be felt especially hard in the City of Los Angeles, which has 99 Neighborhood Councils and numerous boards and commissions.

“While Neighborhood Council Boards in the City of Los Angeles adhere to Brown Act rules, the sudden move back to in-person meetings has grave foreboding for public transparency via attendance for not only stakeholders but also city officials and agenda item participants,” Anastasia Mann, Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council President. “Apart from major controversial issues, Zoom meetings have increased stakeholder, officials and presenter participation at least tenfold. The HHWNC Board voted unanimously to continue Zoom versus in-person meetings late last year.”

“Citizen participation at a local level has exploded with the introduction of virtual meetings, where someone doesn’t have to sit in traffic or find child care to attend a meeting” said Michael Schneider, CEO of Streets For All. “We are excited about this legislation that would permit these more democratic meetings to continue, and we thank Senator Portantino for his leadership on this important issue.”

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