Bakersfield council gives staff direction to implement SB 707 remote‑participation rules

Deputy City Attorney Ashley Zambrano told the Bakersfield City Council on Feb. 25 that Senate Bill 707, signed last October, requires the city to provide a two‑way telephonic or audio option for public comment at city council meetings and to adopt a policy addressing interruptions to that service.

Zambrano said the new law requires that remote participants receive the same time allotments as in‑person speakers and that councils adopt a procedure for disruptions that may include recessing the meeting for up to one hour or until service is restored. "If we aren't able to fix the issue, you are required by the Brown Act to take a recess until service is restored," she said, noting that after an hour council may reconvene but must make roll‑call findings that it made good‑faith efforts to comply with the adopted policy.

Zambrano recommended three implementation steps for council direction: move some routine and quick items from the 5:15 p.m. meeting to the 3:30 p.m. session; hear all agenda‑item public statements at a single point during each meeting to ease clerk queuing; and consider adjusting total public‑comment time limits to split remote and in‑person allotments. She presented options that would keep two minutes per speaker but divide total minutes (for example, splitting a 20‑minute allocation into 10 minutes remote and 10 minutes in person) or increase totals (for example, to 30 minutes split 15/15) if council preferred.

Councilmembers raised access concerns about earlier start times and how moving the consent calendar could affect members of the public who work evenings. Councilmember Smith said he preferred leaving most items at 5:15 p.m. and only moving appointments. Councilmember Komen asked about pulled consent items; Zambrano replied that pulled items could be heard at the 3:30 meeting or continued to 5:15 depending on policy language.

Several councilmembers signaled support for a modest approach to time splits, with multiple members indicating support for starting with equal splits (e.g., 10 minutes remote/10 minutes in person for a 20‑minute block) and for staff to return with an amended resolution. City staff committed to return a redlined council policy to the March 11 regular meeting and to have non‑technology policy changes take effect by April 1; the remote‑participation technology would be implemented as soon as available and in any case on or before the July 1 statutory deadline.

Next steps: staff will draft an amended resolution reflecting council feedback and return it to the March 11 meeting for formal action. The council did not take a final vote on policy language on Feb. 25.

Source: Presentation and council discussion led by Deputy City Attorney Ashley Zambrano.