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Home My WebLink About2017-29 - Adopting a Revised City Council Policy Regarding InvocationsRESOLUTION NO. 2017-29 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA, ADOPTING A REVISED CITY COUNCIL POLICY REGARDING INVOCATIONS WHEREAS, the City Council is an elected legislative and deliberative public body, serving the citizens of the City of Newport Beach ("City"); WHEREAS, legislative bodies in America have long maintained a tradition of solemnizing proceedings by allowing for an opening prayer; WHEREAS, City Council Policy A-19 allows for the selection of a member of the local clergy and other prominent persons to provide invocations at City Council proceedings; WHEREAS, the City Council now desires to adopt this formal, written policy to clarify and codify its invocation practices in light of recent developments in case law; WHEREAS, such prayer before deliberative public bodies has been consistently upheld as constitutional by American courts, including the United States Supreme Court; WHEREAS, in Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), the United States Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the Nebraska Legislature's practice of opening each day of its sessions with a prayer by a chaplain paid with taxpayer dollars, and specifically concluded, "[t]he opening of sessions of legislative and other deliberative public bodies with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country. From colonial times through the founding of the Republic and ever since, the practice of legislative prayer has coexisted with the principles of disestablishment and religious freedom." (ld., at 786); WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court further held, "[t]o invoke divine guidance on a public body... is not, in these circumstances, an 'establishment' of religion or a step toward establishment; it is simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country." (Id., at 792); WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court affirmed in Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984), "[o]ur history is replete with official references to the value and invocation of Divine guidance in deliberations and pronouncements of the Founding Fathers and contemporary leaders." (ld., at 675); WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court further stated, "[t]hose government acknowledgments of religion serve, in the only ways reasonably possible in our culture, the legitimate secular purposes of solemnizing public occasions, expressing confidence in the future, and encouraging the recognition of what is worthy of appreciation in society. For that reason, and because of their history and ubiquity, those practices are not understood as conveying government approval of particular religious beliefs." (ld., at 693 (O'Connor, J., concurring)); WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court also famously observed in Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306, (1952), "[w]e are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being." (ld., at 313-14); Resolution No. 2017-29 Page 2 of 6 WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court acknowledged in Holy Trinity Church v. United States, 143 U.S. 457 (1892), that the American people have long followed a "custom of opening sessions of all deliberative bodies and most conventions with prayer ...." (Id., at 471); WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has determined, "[t]he content of [such] prayer is not of concern to judges where ... there is no indication that the prayer opportunity has been exploited to proselytize or advance any one, or to disparage any other, faith or belief." (Marsh, 463 U.S. at 794-795); WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court also proclaimed that it should not be the job of the courts or deliberative public bodies "to embark on a sensitive evaluation or to parse the content of a particular prayer" offered before a deliberative public body. (Ibid.); WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has counseled against the efforts of government officials to affirmatively screen, censor, prescribe and/or proscribe the specific content of public prayers offered by private speakers, as such government efforts would violate the First Amendment rights of those speakers. (See, e.g., Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577, 588- 589 (1992)); WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has recently held in a plurality opinion in Town of Greece v. Galloway 134 S. Ct. 1811 (2014) that "absent a pattern of prayers that over time denigrate, proselytize, or betray an impermissible government purpose..." a prayer policy passes constitutional muster; WHEREAS, the City Council intends, and has intended in past practice, to adopt a policy that upholds an individual's "free exercise" rights under the First Amendment; WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly clarified that "there is a crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion, which the Establishment Clause forbids, and private speech endorsing religion, which the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses protect." (Bd. of Educ. of Westside Cmty. Sch. v. Mergens, 496 U.S. 226, 250 (1990)); WHEREAS, the City Council intends, and has intended in past practice, to adopt a policy that does not proselytize or advance any faith, or show any purposeful preference of one religious view to the exclusion of others; and WHEREAS, the City Council recognizes its constitutional duty to interpret, construe, and amend its policies and ordinances to comply with constitutional requirements as they are announced. NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Newport Beach resolves as follows: Section 1: The City Council hereby amends City Council Policy A-19 in its entirety and replaces it with the attached amended City Council Policy A-19, which is incorporated herein by reference. Resolution No. 2017-29 Page 3 of 6 Section 2: If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this resolution is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity or constitutionality of the remaining portions of this resolution. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this resolution and each section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase hereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid or unconstitutional. Section 3: The recitals provided in this resolution are true and correct and are incorporated into the substantive portion of this resolution. Section 4: Except as expressly modified in this resolution, all other City Council Policies, sections, subsections, terms, clauses and phrases set forth in the Council Policy Manual shall remain unchanged and shall be in full force and effect. Section 5: The City Council find the adoption of this resolution and the amendment of City Council Policy A-19 is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) (the activity will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment) and 15060(c)(3) (the activity is not a project as defined in Section 15378) of the CEQA Guidelines, California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, because it has no potential for resulting in physical change to the environment, directly or indirectly. Section 6: This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by the City Council, and the City Clerk shall certify the vote adopting this resq,11 tion._ ADOPTED this 25th day of April, 2017. Kevin Muldoon Mayor / ATTEST: Leilani I. Brown City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: City Attorney's Office Aaron C. Harp City Attorney Attachment: Amended City Council Policy A-19 A-19 GUIDELINES FOR INVOCATIONS The Newport Beach City Council has a long tradition of beginning each City Council meeting with a pledge of allegiance and an invocation. Recently, the United States Supreme Court in Town of Greece v. Galloway 134 S.Ct. 1811 (2014) held that "absent a pattern of prayers that over time denigrate, proselytize, or betray an impermissible government purpose..." a prayer policy passes constitutional muster. The purpose of this Policy is to ensure that invocations comply with the law so that the City's residents retain the right to open public meetings with words of inspiration and wisdom. The City Council has determined that invocations that comply with the guidelines in this Policy are consistent with the United States Supreme Court's jurisprudence. 1. To solemnize proceedings of the City Council, Boards, Commissions and Committees, it is the policy of the City Council to allow for an invocation or prayer to be offered at its meetings for the benefit of the City Council, Board members, Commission members, Committee members and the community. 2. No member of the City Council members of any City Board, Commission, Committee or City employee or any other person in attendance at the meeting shall be required to participate in any prayer that is offered. 3. The prayer shall be voluntarily delivered by a clergy/religious leader or other person in the City of Newport Beach. To ensure that such person ("invocational speaker") is selected from among a wide pool of the City's leaders, on a rotating basis, the invocational speaker shall be selected according to the following procedure: a. The City Clerk shall compile and maintain a database ("Congregations List") of the religious congregations with an established presence in Newport Beach. b. The Congregations List shall be compiled by referencing the listing for "churches," "congregations," or other religious assemblies [religious, atheist or agnostic groups or assemblies (collectively "Assemblies")] in the annual Yellow Pages phone book(s) published for the City of Newport Beach, research from the Internet, and consultation with local chambers of commerce. All religious congregations and Assemblies with an established presence in the local community of Newport Beach are eligible to be included in the Congregations List, and any such congregation can confirm its inclusion by written request to the City Clerk. C. The Congregations List shall also include the name and contact information of any chaplain who may serve one (1) or more of the fire departments or law enforcement agencies of the City of Newport Beach or any nearby military facilities. d. The Congregations List shall be updated, by reasonable efforts of the City Clerk, in November of each calendar year. City Council Policy A-19 Page 2 of 3 e. Within thirty (30) calendar days of the effective date of this Policy, and on or about December 1 of each calendar year thereafter, the City Clerk shall mail an invitation addressed to the "congregation leader" of each congregation listed on the Congregations List, as well as to the individual chaplains included on the Congregations List. f. The invitation shall be dated at the top of the page, signed by the City Clerk at the bottom of the page, and read as follows: Dear Congregation Leader, The City Council makes it a policy to invite members of the clergy in the City of Newport Beach to voluntarily offer a prayer before the beginning of its meetings. As the leader of one of the congregations with an established presence in the local community of the City of Newport Beach, or in your capacity as a chaplain forone of the fire departments or law enforcement agencies of the City of Newport Beach, the City Council would appreciate if you would consider offering this important service at an upcoming meeting of the City Council, City Board, Commission, or Committee. If you are willing to assist the City in this regard, please send a written reply via E-mail, fax or mail to the City Clerk. Invocations are scheduled on a first-come, first -serve or other random basis. The dates of the City Council's scheduled meetings for the upcoming year are listed on the following, attached page. Please note, meetings of the City's Boards, Commissions, and Committees are held throughout the year. If you have a preference among the dates, please state that request in your written reply. This opportunity is voluntary, and you are free to offer the invocation according to the dictates of your own conscience. To maintain a spirit of respect and ecumenism, the City Council requests only that the prayer opportunity not be exploited as an effort to convert others to the particular faith of the invocational speaker, nor to disparage any faith or belief different than that of the invocational speaker. On behalf of the City Council, 1 thank you in advance for considering this invitation. Sincerely, City Clerk City Council Policy A-19 Page 3 of 3 g. Consistent with paragraph 6 hereof and, as the invitation letter indicates, the respondents to the invitation shall be scheduled on a first-come, first-served or other random basis to deliver invocations. h. If the selected invocational speaker does not appear at the scheduled meeting, the Mayor (or board, commission, committee chairperson) may ask for a volunteer from among the City Council (or Board, Commission, Committee) or the audience to deliver the invocation. 5. No invocational speaker shall receive compensation for his or her service. 6. The City Clerk shall make every reasonable effort to ensure that a variety of eligible invocational speakers are scheduled for the City Council meetings. If others are waiting and have not had an opportunity to deliver an invocation, no invocational speaker shall be scheduled to offer a prayer at more than three (3) City Council, Board, Commission or Committee meetings in any calendar year. 7. Neither the City Council, Board, Commission, or Committee members, nor the City Clerk shall engage in any prior inquiry, review of, or involvement in, the content of any prayer to be offered by an invocational speaker. 8. This Policy shall be intended for all Boards, Commissions, Committees, or any other public event of the City of Newport Beach, California. 9. This Policy in not intended, and shall not be implemented or construed in any way, to affiliate the City Council with, nor express the City Council's preference for, any faith or religious denomination. Rather, this Policy is intended to acknowledge and express the City Council's respect for the diversity of religious denominations and faiths represented and practiced among the citizens of Newport Beach. Adopted — January 27, 2004 Amended — April 25, 2017 STATE OF CALIFORNIA } COUNTY OF ORANGE } ss. CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH } I, Leilani I. Brown, City Clerk of the City of Newport Beach, California, do hereby certify that the whole number of members of the City Council is seven; that the foregoing resolution, being Resolution No. 2017-29 was duly introduced before and adopted by the City Council of said City at a regular meeting of said Council held on the 251h day of April, 2017, and that the same was so passed and adopted by the following vote, to wit: AYES: Council Member Jeff Herdman, Council Member Brad Avery, Council Member Diane Dixon, Council Member Scott Peotter, Council Member Will O'Neill, Mayor Pro Tem Duffy Duffield, Mayor Kevin Muldoon NAYS: None IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed the official seal of said City this 261h day of April, 2017. 01 nlvolliklj Leilani I. Brown City Clerk Newport Beach, California (Seal) STATE OF CALIFORNIA } COUNTY OF ORANGE } ss. CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH I, Leilani I. Brown, City Clerk of the City of Newport Beach, California, do hereby certify that the whole number of members of the City Council is seven; that the foregoing resolution, being Resolution No. 2017-29 was duly introduced before and adopted by the City Council of said City at a regular meeting of said Council held on the 25th day of April, 2017, and that the same was so passed and adopted by the following vote, to wit: AYES: Council Member Jeff Herdman, Council Member Brad Avery, Council Member Diane Dixon, Council Member Scott Peotter, Council Member Will O'Neill, Mayor Pro Tem Duffy Duffield, Mayor Kevin Muldoon NAYS: None IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed the official seal of said City this 261h day of April, 2017. Leilani I. Brown City Clerk Newport Beach, California (Seal)