WHEREAS, for the past three years the Ralph M. Brown Act (Open Meeting law) was suspended during COVID emergency which allowed for meetings to be hosted on remote sharing platforms such as Zoom; and

WHEREAS, people who normally wouldn’t have participated on committees and commissions such as young parents, students, disabled, rural remote residents, seniors and others now were able to volunteer to be a part of their local government; and

WHEREAS, going back to all in-person meetings will result in less participation from the above marginalized groups; and

WHEREAS, local government officials and commission volunteers are asking for more flexibility with Brown Act laws; now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Sonoma County Democratic Party supports efforts to keep opportunities for remote hosted meetings available for multi-jurisdictional commissions and county wide committees; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Sonoma County Democratic Party joins other community organizations in supporting measures which result in more people being able to participate in local government through remote hosted meetings.

Resolution adopted by the Sonoma County Democratic Party on April 11, 2023