republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/ab-361.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Open meetings: state and 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 the timelines for posting an agenda and providing for the ability of the public to directly address the legislative body on any item of interest to the public. The act generally requires all regular and special meetings of the legislative body be held within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, subject to certain exceptions. 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. The act authorizes the district attorney or any interested person, subject to certain provisions, to commence an action by mandamus or injunction for the purpose of obtaining a judicial determination that specified actions taken by a legislative body are null and void."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "AB 361"
citation: "California AB 361 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Open meetings: state and local agencies: teleconferences."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Robert Rivas"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2021-02-01"
last_action: "2021-09-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c1d619b9-8cde-4eab-aabe-a3545be1e593"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB361"
source_hash: "320ae640c76ddff5de48c7c3baf0b559cddabb34213a5d39e11e5a2ffed83e3b"
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 361 (20212022) — Open meetings: state and 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 the timelines for posting an agenda and providing for the ability of the public to directly address the legislative body on any item of interest to the public. The act generally requires all regular and special meetings of the legislative body be held within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, subject to certain exceptions. 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. The act authorizes the district attorney or any interested person, subject to certain provisions, to commence an action by mandamus or injunction for the purpose of obtaining a judicial determination that specified actions taken by a legislative body are null and void.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/01/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB361&version=20210AB36199INT)
2. **04/06/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB361&version=20210AB36198AMD)
3. **05/10/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB361&version=20210AB36197AMD)
4. **07/06/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB361&version=20210AB36196AMD)
5. **08/30/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB361&version=20210AB36195AMD)
6. **09/03/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB361&version=20210AB36194AMD)
7. **09/16/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB361&version=20210AB36192CHP)
8. **AB361** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB361)
9. **09/15/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB361&version=20210AB36193ENR)

## Votes

- AB 361 Robert Rivas Concurrence - Urgency Added — **66–4** (pass) · lower
- AB 361 Robert Rivas Assembly Third Reading — **62–4** (pass) · lower
- 2nd Reading AB361 Robert Rivas By Caballero Urgency Clause — **28–7** (pass) · upper
- Pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10, that the measure be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations pursuant to Joint Rule 10.5 — **9–1** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended. — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Judiciary] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass — **10–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Robert Rivas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-01** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2021-02-02** From printer. May be heard in committee March 4.
- **2021-02-12** Referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2021-04-06** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on L. GOV. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-07** Re-referred to Com. on L. GOV. `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-06** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (May 5). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage`
- **2021-05-10** Read second time and amended. Ordered returned to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-11** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-05-17** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 62. Noes 4. Page 1431.) `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-05-18** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-27** Referred to Coms. on GOV. & F. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2021-07-05** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (July 1). `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-06** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-07-14** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (July 13). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-15** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-08-30** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-08-31** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-03** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-07** Re-referred to Com. on RLS pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10 (b). `referral-committee`
- **2021-09-07** From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on JUD. pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2021-09-09** Re-referred to Com. on APPR pursuant to Joint Rule 10.5. `referral-committee`
- **2021-09-09** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2021-09-10** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-09-10** Senate Rules Suspended
- **2021-09-10** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 28. Noes 7. Page 2619.). `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-09-10** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2021-09-10** Urgency clause adopted. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 66. Noes 4. Page 3148.). `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-09-15** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5 p.m.
- **2021-09-16** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-09-16** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 165, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c1d619b9-8cde-4eab-aabe-a3545be1e593`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).