74R11773 JD-F
By Wentworth, et al. S.B. No. 246
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 246:
By Greenberg C.S.S.B. No. 246
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the application of the open meetings law to certain
1-3 meetings of governmental bodies.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 551.001(4), Government Code, is amended
1-6 to read as follows:
1-7 (4) "Meeting" means:
1-8 (A) a deliberation between a quorum of a
1-9 governmental body, or between a quorum of a governmental body and
1-10 another person, during which public business or public policy over
1-11 which the governmental body has supervision or control is discussed
1-12 or considered or during which the governmental body takes formal
1-13 action; or
1-14 (B) except as provided by Section 551.075, if
1-15 the governmental body has four or more members, a gathering at
1-16 which a quorum of members of the governmental body is present and
1-17 at which the members solicit information from, give information to,
1-18 ask questions of, or solicit questions from any third person,
1-19 including an employee of the governmental body, about the public
1-20 business or public policy over which the governmental body has
1-21 supervision or control.
1-22 The term does not include the gathering of a quorum of
1-23 a governmental body at a social function unrelated to the public
1-24 business that is conducted by the body, or the attendance by a
2-1 quorum of a governmental body at a regional, state, or national
2-2 convention or workshop, if formal action is not taken and any
2-3 discussion of public business is incidental to the social function,
2-4 convention, or workshop. The term includes a session of a
2-5 governmental body.
2-6 SECTION 2. Section 551.075, Government Code, is amended to
2-7 read as follows:
2-8 Sec. 551.075. Conference With Employees; Closed Meeting.
2-9 (a) This section applies only to:
2-10 (1) a governmental body:
2-11 (A) that meets in regularly scheduled sessions
2-12 fewer than seven times in a calendar year; and
2-13 (B) whose members do not receive compensation
2-14 for their service on the body; and
2-15 (2) a conference relating to matters that pertain to:
2-16 (A) state or federal legislation;
2-17 (B) an audit;
2-18 (C) finances;
2-19 (D) fund-raising;
2-20 (E) a contract;
2-21 (F) human resources;
2-22 (G) litigation;
2-23 (H) a status report on a program or activity for
2-24 which the governmental body is responsible; or
2-25 (I) asset management.
2-26 (b) This chapter does not require a governmental body to
2-27 confer with one or more employees of the governmental body in an
3-1 open meeting if the only purpose of the conference is to:
3-2 (1) receive information from the employees; or
3-3 (2) question the employees.
3-4 (c) Except as provided by this subsection, Subchapter C
3-5 applies to a conference authorized by this section as if it were a
3-6 meeting. The notice of the conference must include a summary
3-7 description of each item that is the subject of the conference.
3-8 (d) Sections 551.103 and 551.104 apply to a conference
3-9 authorized by this section.
3-10 (e) <(b)> During a conference under this section <Subsection
3-11 (a)>, members of the governmental body may not deliberate public
3-12 business or agency policy that affects public business.
3-13 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-14 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-15 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-16 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-17 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-18 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-19 passage, and it is so enacted.