Long Beach City Council approved a motion that will stifle public speech at Council meetings. On October 6, 2026, they will vote again on consolidating all public comments into a single period at the beginning of Council meetings. The change would ban residents from speaking DURING the Regular Agenda portion of meetings, when each Item is discussed and decisions are made.

The public has a legal right to participate in the decision making process of all subjects discussed during Council meetings. We cannot do that if we’re removed from the discussion.

Not only will this amendment detach public comment from the discussion of Agenda Items, it will also limit each member of the public to ONE brief comment per meeting.  No longer will residents be able to step to the dais to comment on individual issues as they’re presented.  Instead, all members of the public who want to address Council will be grouped together at the beginning of the meeting, given one chance to speak on all Items, in only 60 or 90 seconds.  We're expected to believe that they'll remember our 60-second comments when they finally discuss the Items hours later.  (3 minutes are given when 10 or less people comment, an unlikely scenario when all speakers are grouped together.)  This amendment undermines the effectiveness of public comment.

The signers of this petition are sending a unanimous directive to
Long Beach City Council:

DO NOT CONSOLIDATE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIODS INTO A SINGLE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD AT THE BEGINNING OF COUNCIL MEETINGS.

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Signers:  After signing, please share with friends, family, and groups that care about free speech and community engagement in Long Beach.  

There’s an urgency to gather signatures before Oct. 6 when this issue will be voted on.

For more details on this issue, read on below.

THANK YOU for signing! For even more impact, show up for the meeting*:
Long Beach City Council Meeting
Oct. 6, 2026, 5:00 pm
LB City Hall, 411 W. Ocean Blvd., LB 90802

*Council Agendas are subject to change. Refer to the City Clerk’s webpage to confirm the date.
Agendas are published a week before the meeting date at:
https://longbeach.primegov.com/public/portal?fromiframe=true
See how to attend via Zoom or find other ways to participate at:
https://www.longbeach.gov/cityclerk/meetings/
(Council meeting transcripts can be found by clicking the video play icon on the meetings list.)

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On September 1, 2026, Long Beach City Council voted 7 - 2 in favor of consolidating all public comments into a single period at the beginning of Council meetings. The two Council members who opposed the proposed ordinance (Cindy Allen and Kristina Duggan) recognized that this change does not represent the best interest of Long Beach residents as it would ban the public from speaking to Council members DURING discussion of Agenda Items. The proposed ordinance, which was questionably tied to the City’s budget deficit, moved forward with amendments to be voted on at a later date.  That brings us to now – once again trying to convince Long Beach City Council to leave public comments as they are.

The proposed change to restrict public comments impacts all residents of Long Beach, will cause significant barriers to civic engagement, and sets a dangerous precedent by suppressing public participation and free speech.

WHAT WOULD CHANGE
As the rules stand now, the public can address Council on multiple Items during “Regular Agenda,” the portion of Council meetings when Items are presented and discussed. The public gets to weigh in directly before the Council votes on any Item. This long-standing protocol protects the people’s right to engage in local legislation and “retain control over the legislative bodies they have created.” (L.A. Co. Brown Act Requirements. (Sec 54950.))

If the City Council follows through on the proposed amendment, the public will be banned from speaking during the Regular Agenda period. All public comments will be lumped together at the start of the meeting and the time allotted to each speaker will be limited by the number of people who want to speak.  It’s a recipe for failure: the public cannot provide meaningful input if their voices are isolated and cut short.  The City’s proposed change devalues public engagement and insults our intelligence.  It’s like the Council sending the public to the kids’ table and telling them to sit on their hands while the grown-ups talk about important things.

TIME LIMITS
Before voting NO at the Sept. 1 Council meeting, Councilmember Allen explained why the proposal is a “very significant change.” It removes the public’s voice from the discussion AND it limits the amount of time each person gets to speak.

Current time limits depend on the number of people that show up to speak:
1 - 10 people = 3 mins each
11 - 20 people = 90 secs each
21 or more people = 60 secs each

Long Beach City Council meetings are well attended.  As Councilmember Allen described – more than 10 people showing up for public comment is a given; more than 21 people is the norm.  She explained the problematic scenario to Council:  If a resident has only 90 seconds to speak and “three Items that they want to speak on, that gives them 30 seconds to speak on each Item.” She pointed out that eliminating public comment on individual Agenda Items means that residents will not be able to elaborate on each Item of their choice. Unfortunately, seven Council members voted to stifle public voices anyhow.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES?
If all public speakers are lumped together at the beginning of the meeting to speak on numerous Items, the result will be competition for time. The more people speaking, the less time for each person to speak. Large turnouts for public comment have always been a gauge of the importance of hot-topic issues. If the Council forces the amendment through, the dynamic of public engagement may change. Will neighbors still rally as many people as possible to speak up if the result is only 60 seconds for each person to speak? With so many people massed together to discuss a variety of issues, there will be competition instead of unity, chaotic delivery instead of ordered input.

THE CIRCUMSTANCES
          SB 707: Long Beach residents rallied and swayed the Council to drop this issue back in June. At the time, Council said public comments had to be moved to one period at the beginning of meetings because of Senate Bill 707. Council had predetermined that SB 707’s mandate to include remote public access (Zoom) would cause an influx of public comments and make Council meetings longer.

The People spoke loudly! Written comments poured in and way more than 21 residents showed up to speak at the June 16 meeting. The response was unanimous: we don’t want our right to comment restricted! The vote was 5 - 3 against the amendment. We won the battle!

After that meeting, the Council recessed for a summer break and returned on July 21st for the first meeting with SB 707 access in place. One (1) public comment was made via Zoom. There was no influx.

As stated by Councilman Supernaw at the Sept. 1 Council meeting, the City has not experienced a significant increase in virtual public participation since the implementation of SB 707.

          The Budget Nonsense: The Mayor and City Council couldn’t let the public comment issue go. They brought it back on September 1st, this time wrapped up as a budget item. Councilman Supernaw told residents that “implementing SB 707 has required significant financial resources and staff time that could otherwise support critical city services during this challenging budget cycle.” (Apparently, public comments are not critical.) The City needed to cut $150,000 worth of staff time needed for running Zoom. The savings (roughly ¼ of 1% of the City’s $58.2 million dollar deficit) from the proposed “streamlined format” would go towards services more important than the public’s role in local democracy.

Residents of Long Beach flatly rejected the idea that public comment was being framed as a budget item. Anyone interested in reading the actual public comments can review the transcript of the Sept. 1 meeting to find words like “sneaky, underhand attempt,” “shameful,” “a new low,” “cheap shot,” and “deeply flawed.” Similar thoughts were echoed in written comments. Public voices were once again unanimous at that meeting, but the majority of Council, smoothly guided by the Mayor, ignored public input and voted 7 - 2 in favor of forcing public comments into a tidy box.

          The Brown Act:   Section 54950 of the California Government Code, the Brown Act, gives guidance on Meetings for Local Legislative Bodies. “The main focus of the Brown Act is the public's right to attend and participate in the decision making processes of local legislative bodies.” (L.A. Co. Guide on Brown Act Requirements.) If Long Beach residents are locked out of participating during the discussion period, we cannot effectively be part of the decision making process.

Guidance on the Brown Act agrees that members of the public have broad constitutional rights to comment on local government business. While the City of Long Beach attempts to use statute language to technically comply, the residents of Long Beach plainly see that the Council fails to uphold the spirit of the Brown Act: that “public agencies exist to aid in the conduct of the PEOPLE’s business.” (Section 54950.) (Caps mine.) The People’s business includes having a seat at the table to speak directly to Council during discussion of Agenda Items for more than 60 seconds per meeting.

This petition reminds the Mayor and City Council that Long Beach residents are stakeholders in local government, not spectators. As public servants, the job of Council is to listen to our comments during deliberation of issues and apply public feedback when they vote.