republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/ab-557.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Open meetings: local agencies: teleconferences."
description: "(1) Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a legislative body of a local agency, as those terms are defined, be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. The act contains specified provisions regarding providing for the ability of the public to observe and provide comment. The act allows for meetings to occur via teleconferencing subject to certain requirements, particularly that the legislative body notice each teleconference location of each member that will be participating in the public meeting, that each teleconference location be accessible to the public, that members of the public be allowed to address the legislative body at each teleconference location, that the legislative body post an agenda at each teleconference location, and that at least a quorum of the legislative body participate from locations within the boundaries of the local agency's jurisdiction. The act provides an exemption to the jurisdictional requirement for health authorities, as defined."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "AB 557"
citation: "California AB 557 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Open meetings", "local agencies", "teleconferences"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hart"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2023-02-08"
last_action: "2023-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/359da37b-17a7-4ce8-9c87-041905becb1a"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB557"
source_hash: "706b699ed05913e215da066f4938c2b60fb47be2554ea4cda6b56a457fd3c655"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 557 (20232024) — Open meetings: local agencies: teleconferences.

(1) Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a legislative body of a local agency, as those terms are defined, be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. The act contains specified provisions regarding providing for the ability of the public to observe and provide comment. The act allows for meetings to occur via teleconferencing subject to certain requirements, particularly that the legislative body notice each teleconference location of each member that will be participating in the public meeting, that each teleconference location be accessible to the public, that members of the public be allowed to address the legislative body at each teleconference location, that the legislative body post an agenda at each teleconference location, and that at least a quorum of the legislative body participate from locations within the boundaries of the local agency's jurisdiction. The act provides an exemption to the jurisdictional requirement for health authorities, as defined.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/08/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB557&version=20230AB55799INT)
2. **06/19/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB557&version=20230AB55798AMD)
3. **09/01/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB557&version=20230AB55797AMD)
4. **10/08/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB557&version=20230AB55795CHP)
5. **AB557** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB557)
6. **09/12/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB557&version=20230AB55796ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB557 Hart et al. By Ashby — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **8–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **11–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 557 Hart Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 557 Hart Assembly Third Reading — **78–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hart — primary (person)
- Garcia — coauthor (person)
- Pacheco — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-02-08** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2023-02-09** From printer. May be heard in committee March 11.
- **2023-02-17** Referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-27** Coauthors revised.
- **2023-04-27** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (April 26). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-01** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-15** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 1547.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-16** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2023-05-24** Referred to Coms. on GOV. & F. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-07** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 7). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-06-19** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-06-28** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (June 27). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-29** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-01** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-07** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2461.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-07** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 9 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2023-09-11** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3190.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-15** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2023-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 534, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/359da37b-17a7-4ce8-9c87-041905becb1a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).