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Resolution of the City Council of the City of South San Francisco approving the policy entitled "Disruption of Remote Participation During a Council Meeting Policy"
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WHEREAS, the Ralph M. Brown Act (Government Code ? 54950 et seq.) establishes requirements for open and public meetings of local legislative bodies; and
WHEREAS, Senate Bill 707 (2025) amended the Brown Act to update teleconferencing and accessibility requirements, including provisions related to remote participation in public meetings; and
WHEREAS, Government Code ? 54953.4(b)(1)(A) requires eligible legislative bodies, on or before July 1, 2026, to adopt at a noticed public meeting in open session, and not on the consent calendar, a policy addressing the disruption of telephonic or internet service during meetings conducted with remote participation; and
WHEREAS, the required policy must address procedures for recessing and reconvening a meeting in the event of a disruption, and the efforts the legislative body will make to attempt to restore service; and
WHEREAS, Government Code ? 54953.4 further requires that, in the event of a disruption preventing members of the public from observing or participating in the meeting through a two- way telephonic or audiovisual platform, the legislative body shall recess the open session for at least one hour and make a good faith effort to restore service, and may not reconvene open session until at least one hour has passed or service has been restored, whichever occurs first; and
WHEREAS, if telephonic or internet service has not been restored upon reconvening, the legislative body must make findings by roll call vote that good faith efforts to restore service have been made and that the public interest in continuing the meeting outweighs the public interest in remote public access; and
WHEREAS, adoption of a technology disruption policy is required to ensure compliance with state law and to promote transparency and continuity of public meeti...
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