PAK C.S.S.B. 308 75(R) BILL ANALYSIS STATE AFFAIRS C.S.S.B. 308 By: Wentworth (Maxey) 3-26-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND A fundamental premise of the Texas Open Meetings Act is that all meetings of governmental bodies are open to the public unless specifically excepted by the Act or are specifically permitted by the Texas Constitution. It is unclear whether the Act applies to informal meetings, such as staff briefings. The state's newspapers reported that at least one state board has taken advantage of this loophole and conducted important public deliberations as part of staff briefings that are closed to the public. By the time the board convenes in public, the resulting action has been carefully scripted to avoid public discussions of the issues. The Open Meetings Act should be strengthened by eliminating the staff meeting loophole. PURPOSE This bill seeks to amend the definition of "meeting" to include any meeting of a quorum of members of a governmental body and a third party to discuss public business. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 551.001 (4) of the Government Code to additionally define "meeting" as a gathering of a quorum of members of a government body, if the governmental body has four or more members, the governmental body conducts or is responsible for the meeting, and at which the members deliberate or receive information from a third person about public business or public policy within the body's jurisdiction. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 551 of the Government Code by adding Section 551.0825 to specify that a school board is not required to conduct an open meeting to deliberate a matter made confidential by law. SECTION 3. Repeals Section 551.075 of the Government Code. SECTION 4. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The committee substitute clarifies that the gathering of a quorum of members to receives information must be one for which government body is responsible, and adds the language that a school board is not required to conduct an open meeting to deliberate a matter made confidential by law.