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Deputy county counsel explains 2025 Brown Act limits on telephonic appearances
Summary
Deputy County Counsel Eric Scott briefed the Tulare County Homelessness Task Force on a January 2025 change to the California Brown Act that limits telephonic attendance to two meetings per calendar year for members of regularly monthly‑meeting bodies.
Deputy County Counsel Eric Scott updated the task force on a change to the Brown Act affecting telephonic appearances for public‑body members.
Scott said that effective January 2025 the Legislature limited the number of telephonic appearances a member of a regularly monthly‑meeting body may make to two times per calendar year, even when the member satisfies agenda‑posting and open‑location requirements. "For boards that meet once a month, you're limited to two times a year, regardless of what the reason may be," Scott said. He added the statute is set to expire at the end of the year but that he expects further legislative action.
Members asked whether pre‑posted remote locations (for example, a member noting on the agenda that they will appear from a specified office) remain permissible. Scott said that practice remains allowed but is subject to the two‑meeting cap.
Task force members noted the operational challenges this limitation poses for geographically large counties and asked whether Scott's office or other county offices would advocate to the state for change. Scott said the county may engage with the Legislature but offered no timeline. No formal direction or vote was taken.
