City of Paso Robles adds Spanish City Council agendas
Agendas will be published in English and Spanish in compliance with new state requirements; additional audio/visual improvements underway.
– The City of Paso Robles is expanding public access to City Council meetings to comply with Senate Bill 707, which updated California’s Ralph M. Brown Act for open public meetings.
The expanded state law was adopted in 2025, with additional requirements for eligible cities taking effect this month. The law applies to city councils in cities with populations of 30,000 or more, including Paso Robles.
According to the city, it already meets many of the law’s requirements, including providing two-way remote participation. To comply with the remaining major requirements, City Council meeting agendas and instructions explaining how to participate in meetings will now be published in both English and Spanish. Full agenda packets, including staff reports and attachments, will not be translated.
Senate Bill 707 requires agendas and participation instructions to be translated into each applicable language, defined as a language spoken by at least 20% of a city’s population based on census data. In Paso Robles, about 24% of residents speak Spanish, about 73% speak English, and the remaining 3% speak a variety of other languages.
Spanish-language agendas will be posted alongside the English-language versions. The English-language agenda prepared and posted by the city will remain the official and legally controlling agenda. The Spanish-language agenda and online participation instructions will be generated using online translation tools, as permitted under state law.
The city will also provide Spanish-language agendas for Planning Commission and Development Review Committee meetings because those bodies have decision-making authority. Although not required under Senate Bill 707, the city said the practice follows its existing approach to making those meetings accessible in a manner similar to City Council meetings.
The law also allows members of the public to post alternative translations. The city has established a designated bulletin board on the first floor of City Hall where the public may post translated versions of meeting agendas.
According to the city, translations posted by members of the public will not be reviewed, verified, endorsed, or certified for accuracy. The city said it will remove postings that are found not to be direct translations of the official agenda.
Before Senate Bill 707 was adopted, the city already offered two-way telephone access to City Council meetings, allowing members of the public to listen remotely and provide verbal public comment by phone. That service will continue under the new law, which requires eligible cities to provide either two-way telephone or two-way audiovisual participation.
The city’s current online meeting broadcast includes live meeting audio and presentation materials but does not provide a live camera view of the Council Chamber. A renovation of the Council Chamber currently underway will upgrade the audiovisual equipment and add a live camera feed from the chamber.
Official agendas, full agenda packets, meeting notices, livestream information, and instructions for providing public comment are available at www.prcity.com/agendas. Members of the public may also contact the City Clerk’s Office at (805) 237-3960 for assistance.
