This article is general information, not legal advice. Check with your city attorney or county counsel about how these rules apply to your agency.
SB 707, the Brown Act modernization bill, changes how many California councils and boards run their public meetings. This article walks through what the bill requires, who it covers, and where live captions and live translation can help.
The basics: what SB 707 is
SB 707 (Durazo) was signed on October 3, 2025. It updates the Brown Act with a set of new requirements focused on remote participation, language access, outreach, and how agencies share meeting information online.
Most of the new requirements apply to what the bill calls "eligible legislative bodies," and most of them start July 1, 2026.
Who is covered
Eligible legislative bodies include:
- City councils of cities with 30,000 or more residents, or cities located in counties of 600,000 or more
- Boards of supervisors of counties with more than 30,000 residents
The definitions have details that matter, and this article is not legal advice. Confirm with your city attorney or county counsel whether your body is covered and which requirements apply to it. If you also staff commissions and committees, ask counsel about those bodies too.
What changes for eligible bodies
Remote attendance and public comment
Eligible bodies must offer a two-way telephonic or two-way audiovisual way for the public to attend the meeting and comment remotely.
Translated agendas
Agendas must be translated into "applicable languages." Those languages are determined from American Community Survey data on residents who speak English less than "very well," with a maximum of three languages. A few practical points:
- It is the agenda that must be translated, not the full agenda packet.
- Translated agendas are posted with the English agenda.
- Each translated agenda includes instructions, in that language, for joining the meeting by phone or internet.
- Digital translation tools are allowed.
Help for residents who want translation or interpretation
Bodies must "reasonably assist" members of the public who want to translate a meeting or receive interpretation, as long as it doesn't disrupt the meeting. The bill does not require the body to provide interpretation itself.
Outreach
Bodies must make reasonable efforts to reach communities that don't traditionally participate in public meetings.
A public meetings webpage
Eligible bodies need a dedicated public meetings webpage linked from the agency's home page. It explains the meeting process, gives instructions for public comment, and includes a calendar and agendas. There must also be a way for people to request agendas electronically.
A policy for technology disruptions
Bodies must adopt a policy for when technology problems disrupt remote participation. Under the bill, the body may recess for up to one hour while making a good-faith effort to restore remote access, and may continue after a roll-call finding.
Member teleconferencing
The AB 2449 rules that let members teleconference for "just cause" are extended to January 1, 2030.
Where live captions fit
To be clear: SB 707 does not itself require live captions. What captions and live translation offer is a practical way to support the bill's language-access and participation goals.
Here is how that can look in practice:
- Language access during the meeting. Translated agendas tell residents what will be discussed. Live translation helps them follow what is actually said. SentraCaptions translates live into the languages you choose for each meeting, up to 8 per meeting, from 75 supported languages including Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Armenian, Persian (Farsi), Punjabi, Arabic, Hindi and Russian (full list on the features page).
- Assisting residents who want to follow in their language. Residents scan a QR code and read captions on their own phone, in their language, at their own text size. There is no app and no sign-in. This can be one simple way to help residents who ask for translation without disrupting the meeting.
- Remote participants. People watching remotely can read along on the phone page, and captions in one language can be sent to your YouTube Live stream.
- Outreach. A chamber screen showing captions in more than one language, with a QR code, is a visible signal that residents who speak other languages are welcome.
Every screen labels the captions as automatic and notes that they may contain errors. Automatic captions are a useful tool, but if a deaf or hard-of-hearing resident requests CART as an accommodation, your agency should consider that request under the ADA's effective communication rules.
Note that SentraCaptions does not support every language. Hmong and Khmer, for example, are not supported. Compare your applicable languages against the supported list before you plan.
A short planning list for July 1, 2026
- Ask counsel whether your body is an eligible legislative body and which requirements apply.
- Identify your applicable languages from American Community Survey data, with counsel's help.
- Set up agenda translation and the translated joining instructions.
- Build or update your public meetings webpage and the electronic agenda request option.
- Draft and adopt your technology disruption policy.
- Decide how you will "reasonably assist" residents who want translation or interpretation.
- Plan outreach to communities that don't traditionally participate.
- Consider whether live captions and live translation would support these goals in your chamber.
Getting started with live captions
SentraCaptions adds to the setup you already have. You add it as one more destination on the encoder you already stream with, such as Pearl, OBS or vMix, over RTMP or SRT. There is no new hardware. Captions appear about one second after speech.
To learn more:
- See what the product does on the features page.
- Read SB 707 agenda translation: a practical checklist for clerks.
- Read Remote public comment under SB 707, and captions for remote participants.
- See how pricing works on the pricing page, or contact us for a quote.