A bill co-authored by a South Bay state legislator to preserve remote access to public meetings has been vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Assembly Bill 339 would have required all open meetings of a city council or county board of supervisors governing at least 250,000 people to include an option for people to attend and comment via the internet or telephone along with an in-person option until the end of 2023.
The bill, introduced by Assemblymembers Alex Lee, D-San Jose, and Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, was initially broader in scope, requiring all council, school board and county board of supervisors to ensure virtual options along with mandating closed captioning and translation services.
Opposition, including from the League of California Cities, forced the bill’s authors to make changes to the legislation, and the state Senate and Assembly both passed it last month.
However, Newsom declined to sign the bill into law, saying in a letter Thursday about the veto that the legislation “would set a precedent of tying public access requirements to the population of jurisdictions” and “may lead to public confusion,” and would limit flexibility and increase costs for the affected jurisdictions.
Lee in a statement expressed disappointment in the governor’s veto of the bill.
“Those who have been historically excluded from participation such as working parents, the differently-abled, and those without a reliable means of transportation were finally able to attend meetings to make their opinions heard,” Lee said. “The technology for remote participation exists and we’ve seen successful implementation this past year.”
He said he was “committed to continuing to modernize the way our government works for our constituents.”
17 comments
Figures! They don’t want the public to see what crazy things they’re doing!
But the same people are the ideology that the government should be able to peek in your bank account for any amounts over 600$.
trans-par-en-cy ? ? ?
This way they can keep their secrets from getting out to the public. This method has been perfectly okay this past year.
“May lead to public confusion”?
Heck, without public confusion he would not have survived the recall. Newsom exists because of public confusion.
Write him a big enough check and he’ll sign anything.
Of course he did .. He does not want us to see what is actually going on. He wants us to believe only what we are told. We are not allowed to have an opinion under his thumb … only bow to his ‘mandates’.
The (former) Oakley school board quietly cheers this veto.
This speaks VOLUMES!
all government is theft.
sometimes, we even get to witness it.
Wow! What a tyrant!
… of course he doesn’t want more people listening in.. they’ll see how negligent and irresponsible he is
The way Governor Hair Gel blows money and now he’s concerned about costs?
Newsom is the one that’s confused.
After all the insane bills he signed since the recall, the one bill that would increase public participation and inform them as to what is really going on, is vetoed.
The veto is a perfect reflection of who Newsom really is.
The guy is the worst kind of elitist.
What does “differently-abled” mean?
The new political correct way of saying disabled.
Hopefully, what this will prevent is the YIMBY crowd, from Sacramento to San Mateo that have been calling in to local city meeting via internet, and try to influence local matters over zoning & dense housing projects. Busybodies.
Locally a pretty high bar to get over at 250,000 for cities.
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