Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act: teleconferencing.

The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Bagley-Keene 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. The Bagley-Keene Act, among other things, requires a state body that elects to conduct a meeting or proceeding by teleconference to make the portion of the meeting that is required to be open to the public audible to the public at the location specified in the notice of the meeting. The Bagley-Keene Act requires a state body that elects to conduct a meeting or proceeding by teleconference to post agendas at all teleconference locations, identify each teleconference location in the notice and agenda of the meeting or proceeding, and requires each teleconference location to be accessible to the public. That law authorizes any meeting of a state body that is an advisory board, advisory commission, advisory committee, advisory subcommittee, or similar multimember advisory body to hold an open meeting by teleconference if the meeting complies with the requirements of the act, except as provided. Existing law requires that when a member of a multimember state advisory body participates remotely the body provide a means by which the public may remotely hear audio of the meeting or remotely observe the meeting. Existing law requires a multimember state advisory body to end or adjourn a meeting if it discovers that a required means of remote access has failed during the meeting, and, if the meeting is to adjourn and reconvene on the same day, that law requires the body to communicate, among other things, how a member of the public may hear audio of the meeting or observe the meeting. This bill would require a state body that elects to conduct a meeting or proceeding by teleconference to make the portion that is required to be open to the public both audibly and visually observable. The bill would require a state body that elects to conduct a meeting or proceeding by teleconference to post an agenda at the designated primary physical meeting location in the notice of the meeting where members of the public may physically attend the meeting and participate. The bill would extend the above requirements of meetings of multimember advisory bodies that are held by teleconference to meetings of all multimember state bodies. The bill would require a multimember state body to provide a means by which the public may both audibly and visually remotely observe a meeting if a member of that body participates remotely. The bill would further require any body that is to adjourn and reconvene a meeting on the same day to communicate how a member of the public may both audibly and visually observe the meeting. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.