HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-01-21; Clean Energy Alliance JPA; ; Adopt Resolution Approving Clean Energy Social Media PolicyCLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE
Staff Report
DATE: January 21, 2021
TO: Clean Energy Alliance Board of Directors
FROM: Barbara Boswell, Interim Chief Executive Officer
ITEM 2: Adopt Resolution Approving Clean Energy Social Media Policy
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt Resolution #2021-001 approving Clean Energy Alliance Social Media Policy.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION:
As part of establishing a new organization, the Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) Board has been adopting
operational and administrative policies since its inception. CEA will be ramping up its marketing and
communications outreach efforts in support of its CCA launch in May. CEA will increase its social media
presence to provide information and communicate to the public. A Social Media Policy establishes
procedures for handling such communications that ensures that CEA is following best practices, and that
the public is aware of how certain communications will be handled. The proposed Social Media Policy
has been based on similar policies adopted by CCAs throughout the state and has been reviewed by
member agency staff and CEA General Counsel for input.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact as a result of this action.
ATTACHMENTS
Resolution 2021-001 Approving Clean Energy Alliance Social Media Policy
Draft Social Media Policy
DocuSign Envelope ID 4BD7F421-E12F-4489-A705-6883D60B7769
CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE
RESOLUTION NO. 2021-001
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF THE CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE
APPROVING SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
WHEREAS, the Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) is a joint powers agency, formed on
November 4, 2019, by founding members cities of Carlsbad, Del Mar and Solana Beach; and
WHEREAS, Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) authorized by Assembly Bill 117, is a
state law that allows cities, counties, and other authorized entities to aggregate electricity
demand within their jurisdictions in order to purchase and/or generate alternative energy
supplies for residents and businesses within their jurisdiction while maintaining the existing
electricity provider for transmission and distribution services; and
WHEREAS, CEA Board has approved an Implementation Plan and Statement of Intent
which was certified by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on March 16, 2020; and
WHEREAS, the CEA Board desires to establish administrative and operational policies.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Board of Directors of the Clean Energy
Alliance, as follows:
Section 1. The Board of Directors of the Clean Energy Alliance hereby approves the
Social Media Policy.
DocuSign Envelope ID: 4BD7F421-E12F-4489-A705-B883D60B7769 CEA Resolution #2021-001
Social Media Policy
The foregoing Resolution was passed and adopted this 21st day of January 2021, by the
following vote:
AYES: Member Druker, Vice Chair Bhat-Patel, Chair Becker
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
APPROVED:
r—DocuSigned by:
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Kristi Becker, Chair
ATTEST:
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Sheila Cobian, Board Secretary
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CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE
CEA-015
SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY
Clean Energy Alliance (CEA) has determined that the use of social media is an effective tool to
augment traditional communications methods to communicate news and information to the
public. The use of social media presents CEA with an opportunity to enhance communication
with customers as a means to exchange information, increase brand awareness, and build
positive engagement. This document establishes protocol for best practices when engaging
with the public on social media and is subject to change by CEA as needed.
Policy
1.Clean Energy Alliance is responsible for determining who is authorized to use social
media on behalf of the agency.
2.Staff should strive to respond to comments on social media within one business day, as
priorities allows, and if the comments warrant a response.
3.Comments containing any of the following shall be removed as soon as possible:
a.Profane language or content;
b.Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race,
creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, national origin physical or
mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender orientation;
c.Sexual content or links to sexual content;
d.Disparaging, harassing or threatening content intended to threaten or defame
any person, group or organization;
e.Spam or comments that are clearly unrelated to the topic;
f.Links to any site or content posted by automatic software programs (i.e. bots);
g.Solicitation, promotion or endorsement of specific commercial services, products
or entities;
h.Promotion or encouragement of illegal activity;
i.Content that appears to violate the intellectual property rights of CEA or a third-
party under federal or state law, including copyrights or trademarks;
j.Content that compromises the safety or security of the public, public systems or
CEA employees;
k.Personally identifiable information or sensitive personal information that, if
released, violates federal or state law;
I. Promotion or endorsement of a political campaign or candidate;
m. Inaccurately implying the endorsement, approval or sponsorship by CEA.
Social Media Policy
Adopted January 21, 2021
2
4.All comments posted to CEA social media will be monitored. CEA reserves the right to
deny access to its social media pages to an individual who violates the above standards.
5.A comment on any CEA social media page is the opinion of the commentor or poster,
and does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, CEA;
6.To the extent consistent with applicable law, CEA is authorized to remove unauthorized
content, comments, or links posted on its social media that violate the above standards;
provided, however, that this will be performed in a view-point neutral manner.
Any comments that are removed may be considered public records and will be retained by CEA for a
period of at least two (2) years, or for such other period as required by law or provided in CEA's record
retention schedule.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) shall implement this policy and is authorized to revise this policy as
needed to reflect updated CEA practices and legal developments, subject to General Counsel approval.
The CEO is also authorized to adopt a more detailed internal social media policy for use by CEA
employees, consultants, and agents for administering CEA's social media pages.
Mia De Marzo
From: CEO CEA JPA <ceo@thecleanenergyalliance.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2020 7:06 AM
To: Dan King; Jason Haber; Clement Brown
Cc: Ashley Jones; Greg Wade; Clean Energy Alliance Joint Powers Authority; Scott Chadwick; CJ
Johnson; Sheila Cobian; Faviola Medina; Mia De Marzo; Angela Ivey; Sarah Krietor; Andrea
Dykes; Kaylin McCauley; Gregory W. Stepanicich
Subject: AB992 - The Brown Act and Social Media
Attachments: Advice Letter to CEA - AB 992 The Brown Act and Social Media.PDF
Good morning,
Attached is a letter from CEA General Counsel Stepanicich regarding AB 992 which governs the use of social media by members
of legislative bodies under the Brown Act. The new law goes into effect January 1, 2021.
While the new law permits the use of social media by legislative bodies, such as the CEA Board and CEA Community Advisory
Committee, it prohibits any other member from joining that communication. Therefore, one Board or Committee member
cannot "like" the social media posting of another member that involves a subject within the jurisdiction of the Board or
Committee.
Please see the attached letter for more information, and contact Greg Stepanicich with any question.
CEA Board is blind copied on this communication.
Thank you,
Barb
Barbara Boswell
Interim Chief Executive Officer
661-510-0425
CEOTheCleanEnercivAlliance.orq
CAUTION: Do not open attachments or click on links unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Clean Energy Alliance
JOINT POWERS AUTHORITY
"RwL9 Gregory W. Stepanicich
T 415.421.8484
F 415.421.8486
E gstepanicich@rwglaw.com
1 Sansome Street, Suite 2850
San Francisco, CA 94104-4811
rwglaw.com
ATTORNEY—CLIENT PRIVILEGE
CONFIDENTIAL
December 29, 2020
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Chair and Board Members
Clean Energy Alliance
1200 Carlsbad Village Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Re: Summary of AB 992: The Brown Act and Social Media
Dear Chair and Board Members:
AB 992, signed by Governor Newsom, amends the Ralph M. Brown Act ("Brown Act") at
Government Code section 54952.2 to address the use of social media by members of a
legislative body. Prior to AB 992 , the Brown Act was silent regarding social media and its use
by members of a legislative body. This led to uncertainty as to whether certain uses of social
media could result in unintended violations of the Brown Act. The new bill clarifies allowable
uses of social media and provides guidance for applying the principles of the Brown Act to social
media.
Under the Brown Act, meetings of legislative bodies must be open and properly noticed unless
a specific exception applies. The Brown Act defines a "meeting" as any congregation of a
majority of the members of a legislative body at the same time and location to hear, discuss,
deliberate, or take action on any item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the
legislative body. Members are also prohibited from using a series of communications of any
kind, directly or through intermediaries, to discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item of
business that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. These types of
interactions are often referred to as "serial meetings." As use of social media has grown more
prevalent as a way of communicating with constituents and sharing information, we have been
concerned that those social media interactions could be considered a serial meeting if multiple
members are "interacting." The difficulty came with determining what could be considered a
"communication" for purposes of complying with the Brown Act.
San Frar.c ,:c:o Los Angeles Orange County Temecula Central Coast ,
RICHARDS WATSON GERSHON
Chair and Board Members
December 29, 2020 Page I 2
ATTORNEY—CLIENT PRIVILEGE
CONFIDENTIAL
AB 992 amends the Brown Act to specify that a member of a legislative body may engage in
separate conversations or communications on an internet-based social media platform to
answer questions, provide information to the public, or to solicit information from the public
regarding a matter that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body.
Notwithstanding that clarification, a majority of the members of the legislative body cannot use
the internet-based social media platform to discuss among themselves their public agency's
business. To that end, a member of the legislative body is prohibited from responding directly
to any communication on an internet-based social media platform regarding a matter that is
within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body that is made, posted, or shared by
any other member of the legislative body.
In essence, the revisions to the Brown Act in AB 992 clarify that use of social media is allowed
under limited circumstances and does not violate the Brown Act; however, members must be
very careful to not interact directly with other members of their legislative body on social
media platforms. It is worth noting that AB 992 provides that there shall be no social media
interaction between members on matters within the jurisdiction of the legislative body at all: a
member shall not respond directly to any communication that is made, posted, or shared by
any other member of the legislative body. It does not limit the prohibition to a majority of the
body interacting on a post. This is a key element to be aware of, as typically an interaction
between only two members of a five member legislative body would not be a potential
violation of the Brown Act.
This guidance is helpful because it clears up a gray area in the law, which may have restricted
use of social media by those members that were concerned with violating the Brown Act. Of
particular help, are the definitions. Often when applying existing law to new technology, we
are required to analogize or make a determination as to how to reconcile the law that never
anticipated the new technology, with the new technology. For example, it was previously
unclear whether "liking" a post was a communication under the Brown Act, but AB 992 defines
the phrase "discuss among themselves" to include communications made, posted, or shared on
an internet-based social media platform between members of a legislative body, including
comments or use of digital icons that express reactions to communications made by other
members of the legislative body. Thus, it is now clear that "liking" a post or using a digital icon
is considered a "discussion" under the Brown Act.
Similarly, it may not have been clear prior to AB 992 what was defined as "social media." Now,
an "internet-based social media platform" is defined as an online service that is open and
accessible to the public. "Open and accessible to the public" means that "members of the
general public have the ability to access and participate, free of charge, in the social media
platform without the approval by the social media platform or a person or entity other than the
social media platform, including any forum and chatroom, and cannot be blocked from doing
so, except when the internet-based social media platform determines that an individual
Chair and Board Members
December 29, 2020 Page I 3
ATTORNEY—CLIENT PRIVILEGE
CONFIDENTIAL
violated its protocols or rules." Please note that this definition is broad and likely encompasses
most online platforms. It also includes sub-groups on social media platforms.
In summary, these revisions to the Brown Act defines what constitutes a discussion on social
media for purposes of complying with the Brown Act. The main takeaway is that while social
media posting is allowed, members cannot interact with the posts of other members on topics
within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. This prohibition applies to
interactions between just two members, which is a unique element since an interaction
between two members in person would not otherwise be prohibited under the Brown Act.
These revisions go into effect on January 1, 2021 and will remain in effect only until January 1,
2026 unless otherwise extended by the Legislature.
If you have any questions about AB 992, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Very truly yours,
Greg W. Stepanicich
cc: Barbara Boswell, Interim Chief Executive Officer
RICHARDS WATSON GERSHON