State bodies: meetings: teleconference.

Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a state body, as defined, be open and public, and all persons be permitted to attend any meeting of a state body, except as provided. Existing law does not prohibit a state body from holding an open or closed meeting by teleconference for the benefit of the public and state body. Existing law, among other things, requires a state body that elects to conduct a meeting or proceeding by teleconference to post agendas at all teleconference locations, to identify each teleconference location in the notice and agenda, and to make each teleconference location accessible to the public. Existing law requires the agenda to provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the state body directly at each teleconference location, as specified. This bill, for a state body that is an advisory board, advisory commission, advisory committee, advisory subcommittee, or similar multimember advisory body, would authorize an additional way of holding a meeting by teleconference, as prescribed, provided it also complies with all other applicable requirements of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. In this context, the bill would require a member of a state body participating by teleconference to be listed in the meeting minutes and that notice, as specified, identifying that member to be provided to the public at least 24 hours before the meeting. The bill would require a state body to designate a primary physical meeting location on that notice where members of the public may attend the meeting and participate, to include that information in the agenda of the meeting, and to post the agenda at the primary physical meeting location. The bill would require a quorum of the body's members to be present at the primary physical meeting location and that decisions during the teleconference meeting be made by rollcall vote. The bill would require the state body, if a member participates remotely, to provide the public a way to hear the meeting or to observe it and to provide public notice, as specified, of how this would be done. Upon discovering that a means of remote access has failed during a meeting, the bill would require the body to end or adjourn the meeting, as specified, and would prescribe certain notice requirements and procedures in this connection.