CSDA’s sponsored bill, Assembly Bill 557 (Hart), passed the Senate Governance and Finance Committee 8-0 on June 7. CSDAs Legislative Representative Marcus Detwiler was joined by Soquel Creek Water District General Manager Ron Duncan in providing lead witness testimony in support of the legislation authorizing emergency remote Brown Act meetings. The bill heads next to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it is currently scheduled to be heard on June 27.
Over 120 special districts and interested agencies throughout California have joined CSDA in supporting AB 557; if your agency wishes to get involved and support CSDA’s efforts to get this bill signed into law, visit our Take Action page for AB 557 and consider sending in a letter of support using either the sample template provided or by using the automated form letter process. Letters for the Senate Judiciary Committee will be due by June 20 to be reflected in the committee’s official analysis.
AB 557 will eliminate the sunset included in the provisions added to the Brown Act by AB 361 (R. Rivas, 2021), effectively preserving those provisions added by CSDA’s previously-sponsored legislation. AB 557 also revises the timeframe in which agencies may pass a resolution reaffirming their temporary transition to emergency remote meeting procedures, increasing that window to 45 days (up from 30 days).