Page 8 - FebDefComp

WHEREAS, on September 16, 2021, Governor Newsom signed into law

Assembly Bill 361 (“AB 361”), which provides that a local agency legislative body may

continue to meet remotely without complying with otherwise-applicable requirements in

the Brown Act related to remote/teleconference meetings by local agency legislative

bodies, provided that a state of emergency has been declared and the legislative body

determines that meeting in person would present imminent risks to the health or safety

of attendees, and provided that the legislative body continues to make such findings at

least every 30 days during the term of the declared state of emergency; and

WHEREAS, this Committee has again reconsidered the circumstances of the

state of emergency and finds that the state of emergency continues to impact the ability

of members of the Committee to meet in person because there is a continuing threat of

COVID-19 to the community, and because Committee meetings have characteristics

that give rise to risks to health and safety of meeting participants (such as the increased

mixing associated with bringing together people from across the community, the need to

enable those who are immunocompromised or unvaccinated to be able to safely

continue to participate fully in public governmental meetings, and the challenges with

fully ascertaining and ensuring compliance with vaccination and other safety

recommendations at such meetings); and

WHEREAS, on November 30, 2021, the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was

classified as a Variant of Concern in the United States; and

WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) has

reported that the Omicron variant will likely spread more easily than the original virus