While Nick Richardson served his country he could not serve his constituents.

Richardson, an elected member of the Fresno City Council, is also a Marine Corps reservist. The major was recently called up for training in Africa, which meant he could not attend two council meetings in person.

State law allows absent members of local government to remotely participate through teleconferencing — like Zoom — under certain circumstances. Serving your country is not one of them. Thus, even if Richardson could and wanted to participate, the law would not allow him to.

That could change.

“I took this job to be involved and help people out. And the fact that the current rules allow for you to call in if it’s an emergency unfortunately don’t cover a planned military deployment like that,” Richardson, now back in Fresno, said. “It‘s definitely an opportunity for improvement.”

As a reservist, Richardson is obligated to train one weekend a month and at least two weeks during the year. He participated in African Lion 25, a joint training exercise in the Sahara Desert — Richardson could not elaborate exactly where, but the Army said  Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, and Senegal — involving 40 nations.

A Flaw in the State Law

Post-pandemic, Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, D-Baldwin Park, authored AB 2449, which updated the state’s open meeting law — the Brown Act. It applies just to members of a local government, such as a city council or county board of supervisors. Mainly, it codified allowable reasons to miss meetings and still remotely participate.

“If indeed one of her goals in drafting that was not to exclude folks who were taking part in especially reserved military status duties, then maybe we could make, again, some common sense changes,” Richardson said.

The reasons fall under just cause, an emergency.

Just cause is defined as the need to care for a family member, contagious illness, physical or mental disability, or official travel.

Official travel means “official business of the legislative body or another state or local agency,” with no allowance for military service.

Emergency is defined in the law as “a physical or family medical emergency that prevents a member from attending in person.”

Richardson plans to meet with Assemblymember David Tangipa, R-Clovis, this week to possibly broaden the definition of emergency.

“There’s potential there for some interpretation,” Richardson said.

Assemblymember Willing to Fix Problem

Rubio has a pending bill to update her 2022 legislation about remote participation. However, AB 259 just extends the sunset date from Jan. 1, 2026 to Jan. 1, 2030.

She is willing to find a path to allow military members to serve both country and their constituents.

Her staff said the issue never came up in discussion.

“The Assemblywoman is sensitive to military issues, especially as the spouse of a veteran. We will certainly be looking into it,” her office told GV Wire.

The bill passed the Assembly local government committee, and next heads to the Assembly floor — and if it passes, to the Senate local government committee.

Rubio’s staff said they want to find out who has ultimate jurisdiction — the state or federal government.

“If we are able to add this exception into the bill now, we will find the best way to do so,” her office said.

The current state law also requires all teleconferencing locations to be posted on the agenda, something that may not be feasible for those in military training. However, there are some exceptions to the rule built into the current law.

Richardson said the military would allow him to remotely participate in meetings, but he would not be able to wear any insignia. He would not be able to disclose his location.

“If the infrastructure allowed, technologically for me to phone in, I’d definitely be interested in doing it and I would pursue that,” Richardson said.

Military Advocates Support Change

Ramona Chavez, a retired Air Force captain, and president of military rights group Cal MOAA, supports a change.

“We certainly like to support bills that help the lives of our veterans, and our communities,” Chavez said.

Fred Green, a military advocate for several organizations, supports changes that would allow reservists to participate in local meetings.

“I love that Assemblymember Blanca Rubio is updating this bill to support both our service members and the public services. In that according to the analysis this bill will update to include virtual meetings which I feel may have been overlooked,” Green said.

Richardson said allowing those in military training to remotely participate would help recruit better candidates. The city of Fresno raised city council pay in 2022 with the recruiting goal in mind.

Temporary Appointments Can Be Made

State law allows for a local government to appoint a temporary member to replace a member in active service. The replacement would have the full authority of an elected member and serve until the original member returns, or the end of the elected term.

This last happened in Fresno in 2008. Larry Westerlund left the dais for naval reserve duty. The council appointed Paul Caprioglio in his place, to give District 4 a voice during budget season and beyond.

Westerlund returned later to serve the remainder of his term — he was re-elected later that year. Caprioglio succeeded him, winning terms in 2012 and 2016.