To: Board of Supervisors
From: Legislation Committee
Report Title: In-Person Only Meeting Format for the October 7, 2026 Legislation Committee
Recommendation: Recommendation of a Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
PROVIDE a one-time exemption to the Board's February 7, 2023 direction requiring hybrid meeting format for Countywide boards, committees, and commissions to allow the Legislation Committee's October 7, 2026 meeting to be conducted as an in-person-only meeting, without a remote participation option, due to technical constraints related to the informational-only, roundtable format, as recommended by the Legislation Committee.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No fiscal impact.
BACKGROUND:
On February 7, 2023, the Board of Supervisors asked the Board to authorize continued teleconference meetings under Government Code section 54953(e) through February 28, 2023, receive an update on teleconference meeting procedures taking effect March 1, 2023, and provide direction on conducting hybrid meetings of County advisory boards, committees, and commissions. The Board adopted the recommendations as presented.
The practical effect of that direction is that effective March 1, 2023, the Board's standing committees have been directed by the Board to use a hybrid meeting format that will enable the public to continue to participate in meetings electronically from remote locations. Since that time, Legislation Committee meetings have typically been conducted in hybrid format, with the public offered the option to attend in person at the Committee's physical meeting locations or remotely via Zoom or call-in.
The Brown Act does not independently require that the public be offered a remote participation option for an in-person meeting conducted without teleconferencing. The Board retains full authority to rescind or carve out an exception to the hybrid requirement by subsequent Board action. Hybrid meetings "may continue unless the Board of Supervisors directs otherwise," pursuant to the Board’s February 7, 2023 direction.
The Legislation Committee's October 7, 2026 meeting is scheduled as an in-person meeting, which will be noticed, agendized and open to the public. The meeting is an informational-only meeting, with materials on all topics to be included in the published agenda packet. No decisions are to be made at the meeting. There are opportunities for public attendance and comments on all agenda items to be discussed. The format includes informational breakout groups that occur concurrently, which present logistical and operational challenges to teleconferencing.
In light of these technical limitations, the Committee is requesting that the Board provide direction that the Legislation Committee's October 7, 2026 meeting may proceed in an in-person-only format, consistent with the Board's reserved authority to direct otherwise under its own February 7, 2023 policy.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
The October 7, 2026 Legislation Committee meeting would likely need to change its format or be postponed, due to logistical limitations.