A recent opinion
issued by the Office of the Attorney General (AG) found that the
federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that
individuals with disabilities can participate in Brown Act
meetings remotely, without the need to post the address of their
remote meeting location. The decision could improve accessibility
for individuals with permanent or temporary disabilities serving
on Brown Act bodies.
Previously, in a 2001
opinion on the same topic, the AG’s office declared that
physical presence was an essential job function, thereby not
requiring reasonable accommodation under the ADA. However, the
new opinion reflects the significant shift in public meeting
practices following the COVID-19 pandemic, where remote
participation became more common. The AG now concludes that
in-person attendance at Brown Act meetings is no longer an
essential job function as defined in the ADA.
The opinion does impose certain conditions for those
participating remotely without opening their location to the
public. Participants must identify any adults who are also
present with them in the room from which they are participating,
including their relationship to the participant. Additionally, no
action can be taken on agenda items if the participant’s
connection is disrupted.
CSAC has long advocated for Brown Act modernization that improves
access for those who serve on Brown Act bodies and the
communities they serve. In recent years, we have sponsored
several Brown Act reform bills, including:
SB 1100 (Cortese, 2022):Ensures that public meetings are
safe and accessible by clarifying rules for removal of
disruptive individuals
AB 557 (Hart, 2023):Removed the sunset date for emergency
Brown Act meeting procedures
AB 817 (Pacheco, 2023-24):Proposed allowing members of
non-decision-making advisory bodies to participate in Brown Act
meetings without needing to post their remote meeting location.
AB 817 failed to get out of the Senate Committee on Local
Government in June 2024.
