Portantino Bill Ensuring Neighborhood Councils Can Meet Online Passes Senate Governance and Finance Committee

For Immediate Release: April 19, 2023

Contact: Lerna Shirinian, (818) 409-0400

Portantino Bill Ensuring Neighborhood Councils Can Meet Online Passes Senate Governance and Finance Committee

Sacramento, California – Senate Bill 411, authored by Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank), passed the Senate Governance and Finance Committee today. During the pandemic, neighborhood councils in Los Angeles saw a dramatic increase in public participation through for virtual meetings. The bill ensures that neighborhood councils in the City of Los Angeles can continue serving their constituents by meeting online.

“Public participation is vital to vibrant discourse and is best served when more people participate in the process,” stated Senator Portantino. “Virtual meetings during the pandemic have increased public participation, better served democratic principles, and improved the democratic process. It has also made it easier for folks with travel difficulties to participate and councils to have quorums, all very positive outcomes.”

During the pandemic, virtual public meetings via teleconference were allowed by Executive Order of the Governor to help neighborhood councils remain operational. While it was clear that online meetings attracted more public participation, it is also clear that ending them will have drastic negative consequences for public discourse. Considering that California is the tech leader in the nation and the world, it is appropriate to have laws in place that encourage governments to modernize and serve more people.

“Citizen participation at a local level has exploded with the introduction of virtual options, 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 in perpetuity, and we thank Senator Portantino for his leadership on this important issue.”

SB 411 will allow neighborhood councils in the City of Los Angeles to use teleconferencing as an alternative for in person meetings. The measure requires that the City Council approve the virtual meeting option before neighborhood councils can move forward and requires a two-thirds vote from each neighborhood council in order to make the meeting remote. The measure has a sunset date of 2027.

“I want to thank Senator Portantino for his quick response in helping the neighborhood councils in trying to return to virtual meetings,” said Lydia Grant, President of the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council. “Many community members are unable to attend in-person meetings, including some disabled and people with young children. This will offer better community participation.”

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