Don’t be surprised if sometime in the very near future you hear the presiding officer at a local government meeting announce, “This meeting will come to order or we’ll toss you and your behind out!”
Governor Gav Newsom’s desk has a new bill on it passed by the state Legislature Monday, Aug. 1, that would modify the Brown Act, the 1953 state law that requires open meetings, including the right for the public to address local government officials during meetings. Current law allows city councils, boards of supervisors, school boards, water boards, etc., to boot out people for “willfully interrupting” proceedings, but state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) said the law needed to be updated “to include a more precise definition of that behavior.”
The Devil is always in the details.
If Newsom signs the bill into law, which he’ll certainly do says I, local governmental bodies will have broadened authority to show the door to disruptive and misbehaving miscreants and kooks who flip out at meetings.
According to Cortese his bill, SB 1100, “aims to protect local officials from harassment and verbal abuse.”
Without a doubt, “harassment” and “verbal abuse” are Devil’s details difficult to artfully define in the hurly-burly of politics and governing, especially in today’s socially uncivil times. I can also tell you that attendance at union meetings back in my day, were not the place to be for the faint of heart or those easily upset or offended by gruff speech.
Specifically, Cortese’s proposed law would clarify “willfully interrupting” to mean “intentionally engaging in behavior during a meeting of a legislative body that substantially impairs or renders infeasible the orderly conduct of the meeting.”
The bill also mandates local officials to issue a warning to participants to “curtail their disruptive behavior” before removing them or clearing a room.
Cortese explained he introduced the bill in response to “verbal attacks” last year on the mayor of Los Gatos. Protesters used anti-LGBTQ and anti-vaccine rhetoric during meetings, made personal comments about the mayor’s son and then demonstrated outside her home.
“She came under very aggressive attacks over not only policy issues there, but they became very much ad hominem attacks against her and her family ... over issues that really weren’t in play before the town council,” Cortese said.
The law also was certainly in response to COVID-generated disruptions when local officials made decisions on stay-at-home orders, mask-and-social distancing rules, vaccine requirements for schools, and mixed/inconsistent practices in the application of all of the foregoing rules to businesses and restaurants.
Cortese’s bill is co-sponsored by the California State Association of Counties, which includes Mendocino County, and the Urban Counties of California.
Oh, one other thing.
You can bet that constitutional watchdogs such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the First Amendment Coalition (FAC) will challenge this bill if Newsom signs it into law on grounds that it would have a “chilling effect on First Amendment rights.”
Anyway, you’ve been warned, so behave your misbehaving self at meetings, or else.
Water Supply, Drought, Wildfires And Climate Change On The Minds Of Folks
According to a poll just released by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), “Californians are most likely to name water supply and drought, followed by wildfires and climate change, as the most important issues” now facing the state.
I’ve always foud PPIC’s polling approach to be pretty much independent and nonpartisan.
Here’s highlights of the poll conducted in mid-July.
• Nearly nine in ten likely voters say candidates’ positions on the environment are important—and 45 percent say they are very important—in voting for governor in 2022. Fifty-nine percent approve of Governor Newsom’s handling of the environment, with partisans divided.
• Sixty-eight percent of Californians say that the supply of water is a big problem in their part of California. Strong majorities also feel that neither the state and local government nor people in their part of California are doing enough in response to the drought. Forty-five percent say they have done a lot to reduce water use recently in response to the drought. Seventy-seven percent say climate change has contributed to the current drought.
• Forty-five percent of Californians say that the threat of wildfires is a big problem in their part of California. Majorities say that they are at least somewhat concerned about the threat of power shutoffs to prevent wildfires where they live. Three in ten have a great deal of confidence in the government’s readiness to respond to wildfires in their part of California. Seventy-six percent say climate change has contributed to the recent wildfires.
• Sixty-nine percent of Californians say that the effects of climate change have already begun. Eight in ten Californians say that climate change is a very or somewhat serious threat to California’s future economy and quality of life. A strong majority favors the state government making its own policies, separate from the federal government, to address climate change. Support for the state’s climate change policies is deeply divided along party lines.
• Fifty-eight percent of Californians say the condition of oceans and beaches is very important to California’s future economy and quality of life. Majorities say that plastics and marine debris are a big problem on the coast near them. Overwhelming majorities favor wind power and wave energy projects and building desalination plants. A strong majority oppose allowing more oil drilling off the California coast.
• Forty-four percent of Californians are upset about the current rate of inflation, and 55 percent say that recent gas prices have caused them financial hardship. Overwhelming majorities favor developing renewable energy sources over expanding oil, coal, and natural gas production. Forty-nine percent have seriously considered getting an electric vehicle. Forty-nine percent approve of President Biden’s handling of environmental issues.
(Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at 12 noon on KPFN 105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org)
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