Governor Newsom signed a new
Executive Order related to the extension of several deadlines
impacted by COVID-19. At the request of counties, Paragraph 11 of
the Executive Order also resolves uncertainty about in-person
public participation at hearings, such as county budget hearings.
This uncertainty has lingered since the early Executive Order
related to the Brown Act. This order states that any statute or
regulation that permits a party or witness to participate in a
hearing in person, a member of the public to be physically
present at the place where a presiding officer conducts a
hearing, or a party to object to a presiding officer conducting
all or part of a hearing by telephone, television, or other
electronic means, is suspended, provided that specified
requirements are met.
The Executive Order also specifies:
For the purpose of authorizing the Executive Director of the
Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to issue
discretionary exemptions to individual law enforcement agencies
seeking to temporarily reemploy retired or separated peace
officers, the timeframe within which the individual must be
reappointed is extended from 180 days to one year;
POST lecture based Basic Academy instruction may be delivered
online;
Law enforcement agencies are encouraged to adopt telephonic,
remote or other procedures for sex offender registration and
reporting;
Certain procedural deadlines of the Department of Industrial
Relations are extended, including the deadline for workers to
file wage claims with the Labor Commissioner;
The deadline for employers to appeal Cal/OSHA citations is
extended; and among others,
The deadline for Workers’ Compensation Administrative Law
Judges to issue decisions is extended by 60 days.
A copy of the Governor’s executive order can be
found here and text can be found here.
