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By: @Marcus Detwiler

On October 3, 2025, Governor Newsom signed into law SB 707 (Durazo), which makes sweeping revisions to the Ralph M. Brown Act (the Brown Act). As mentioned last week on CSDA’s Advocacy News blog, all Brown Act-observing agencies will need to become familiar with the new law before January 1, 2026. Additionally, some cities, counties, and special districts that fall into the “eligible legislative bodies” classification (established by the bill’s provisions) will have to follow additional requirements generally starting July 1, 2026.

CSDA has previously written in detail about the various changes SB 707 would make to the Brown Act. As one of the most significant overhauls of the Brown Act in recent history, the changes are vast.

Visit CSDA Brown Act Revamp Resource Page

Examples of changes to the Brown Act that all agencies will need to observe include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Agencies would need to provide all members of their legislative body with a copy of the Brown Act.
• Agencies would be required to identify and make available to legislative bodies a list of one or more meeting locations that may be available for use by the legislative bodies to conduct their meetings.
• Prior to taking final action, agencies would be required to orally report a summary of a recommendation for a final action on the salaries, salary schedules, or compensation paid in the form of fringe benefits during the open meeting in which the final action is to be taken with regard to department heads and similar administrative officers of the local agency.

These changes are distinct from the provisions that would apply to “eligible legislative bodies,” a concept created by SB 707 that establishes criteria used to determine whether a city, county, or special district is considered an “eligible legislative body.” 

A special district that is an “eligible legislative body” is one that has an internet website and meets any of the following conditions:

• The boundaries of the special district include the entirety of a county with a population of 600,000 or more, and the special district has over 200 full-time equivalent employees.
• The special district has over 1,000 full-time equivalent employees.
• The special district has annual revenues, based on the most recent Financial Transaction Report data published by the California State Controller, that exceed four hundred million dollars ($400,000,000), adjusted annually for inflation commencing January 1, 2027, as measured by the percentage change in the California Consumer Price Index from January 1 of the prior year to January 1 of the current year, and the special district employs over 200 full-time equivalent employees.

For those special districts that qualify as an “eligible legislative body,” all open and public meetings would have to include an opportunity for members of the public to attend via a two-way telephonic service or a two-way audiovisual platform, unless telephonic or internet service is not available at the meeting location. If adequate telephonic or internet service is operational at the meeting location during only a portion of the meeting, the legislative body must include an opportunity for members of the public to attend via a two-way telephonic service or a two-way audiovisual platform during that portion of the meeting.

On or before July 1, 2026, an eligible legislative body must approve at a noticed public meeting in open session, and not on the consent calendar, a policy regarding disruption of telephonic or internet service occurring during meetings. The policy must address the procedures for recessing and reconvening a meeting in the event of disruption and the efforts the eligible legislative body will make to attempt to restore service. If a disruption of telephonic or internet service occurs during the meeting, the legislative body must recess the open session of the meeting for at least one hour and make a good faith attempt to restore the service. The legislative body must not resume the open session of the meeting for at least one hour following the disruption, or until telephonic or internet service is restored, whichever is earlier.  Notably, the legislative body may meet in closed session during this period. Upon resuming the open session, if telephonic or internet service has not been restored, the legislative body must adopt a finding by rollcall vote that they have made good faith efforts in accordance with their policy and that the public interest in continuing the meeting outweighs the public interest in remote public access.

SB 707 contains other provisions that apply to all agencies as well as additional provisions that apply exclusively to “eligible legislative bodies.” 

Brown Act Revamp Resource Page

To better equip agencies with the knowledge needed to navigate the myriad changes made by SB 707, CSDA will be developing, curating, and releasing new educational content detailing these revisions to the Brown Act. 

Interested parties should regularly visit CSDA’s SB 707 Brown Act Revamp Resource Webpage  for the latest resources, soon to include a sample policy for “eligible legislative bodies” to adapt for their use in the event of a(n) internet/telephonic disruption; CSDA will be releasing additional content related to SB 707 in subsequent eNews articles as well as its annual New Laws Series.

All special district officials are strongly encouraged to register now for CSDA’s December 10, 2025 webinar: SB 707 Brown Act Revamp. This webinar, a free CSDA member benefit, will equip special districts with the knowledge necessary to comply with the biggest changes to the Brown Act in decades.