SB 707 Compliance
California's Brown Act Modernization Act is the most significant open meeting law overhaul in decades. CivicCA automatically enforces every new requirement.
What is SB 707?
Senate Bill 707, the Brown Act Modernization Act, was signed by Governor Newsom in October 2025. It is the most comprehensive update to California's Ralph M. Brown Act (Government Code §54950–54963) since the law was originally enacted. Most provisions took effect January 1, 2026, with "eligible body" requirements taking effect July 1, 2026.
The bill modernizes how local legislative bodies conduct public meetings, expanding teleconference access, strengthening public comment protections, tightening special meeting rules, and creating new transparency requirements for bodies in larger communities.
What SB 707 changes
Six major areas of the Brown Act are affected. Here's what your organization needs to know.
Special Meeting Salary Restriction
Special meetings may no longer include items about salary or compensation for legislative body members. This closes a loophole used to fast-track pay increases with minimal public notice.
Executive Compensation Transparency
Before final action on executive or department head compensation, the body must receive an oral report in open session. No more approving executive pay packages solely in closed session.
Committee Public Comment Protections
Items from budget, police oversight, elections, privacy, library, and tax committees must always allow public comment — even if the item was previously reviewed by another body.
Remote Participation Documentation
When members participate remotely, minutes must document the member's name and the statutory authority under which they are participating remotely (just cause, disability, emergency).
Special Meeting Website Posting
All bodies must post special meeting notices to their website, not just a physical location. This codifies the shift to digital-first notice requirements.
Remote Participation Annual Limits
Members using "just cause" remote participation face annual caps: 2 per year for monthly bodies, 5 for bi-monthly, 7 for weekly. Disability and emergency exemptions are unlimited.
Eligible Body Requirements
Bodies in larger communities face additional requirements. CivicCA targets small CA cities, but many qualify as "eligible bodies" based on county population.
Who is an "Eligible Body"?
Under SB 707, your organization is an eligible body if:
- Your city population is 30,000 or more, OR
- Your city is in a county with 600,000+ population (regardless of city size)
This means a 10,000-person city in Los Angeles County, Fresno County, or any large county is still an eligible body. CivicCA auto-detects eligible body status from your population data or allows manual override.
Additional Requirements for Eligible Bodies
- Hybrid meeting access — Must provide two-way teleconference access so the public can participate remotely
- Agenda translation — Must post translated agendas in languages spoken in the community
- Disruption policy — Must adopt a formal policy for addressing meeting disruptions before July 1, 2026
- Dedicated meeting webpage — Must maintain a public-facing meeting webpage (CivicCA's portal satisfies this requirement)
- Community outreach — Must document efforts to encourage public participation
AI-powered SB 707 compliance automation
CivicCA runs 11 SB 707-specific compliance checks automatically when you publish an agenda or review a meeting. No manual tracking needed.
Automatic Detection
- Scans special meeting agendas for prohibited salary/compensation items
- Flags executive compensation items requiring oral reports
- Identifies restricted committee types and enforces public comment
- Verifies minutes document remote participants and statutory authority
- Checks special meeting notices are posted to your portal
- Tracks per-member remote participation against annual limits
Eligible Body Monitoring
- Auto-detects eligible body status from population data
- Verifies hybrid/teleconference meeting access is configured
- Tracks agenda translation status for configured languages
- Monitors disruption policy adoption deadline (July 1, 2026)
- Confirms public meeting webpage is active (your CivicCA portal)
Key Dates
2025
Brown Act Modernization Act becomes law.
2026
Special meeting restrictions, executive compensation oral reports, committee public comment rules, remote participation minutes documentation, website posting, and annual remote limits.
2026
Hybrid meeting access, agenda translation, disruption policy, meeting webpage, and community outreach requirements for eligible bodies.
2030
Certain teleconference provisions expire unless renewed by the Legislature.
Don't wait for a compliance violation
CivicCA automatically enforces every SB 707 requirement. Set up in minutes, not months. Every plan includes full compliance checking.