Texas Open Meetings Act
The Texas Open Meetings Act prohibits state and local government bodies from conducting closed meetings except under certain circumstances. Under the act, government bodies must post public notice of the time and place of the meeting. The law also dictates that government bodies provide adequate information about all topics that will be considered in the meeting, post the meeting in a timely manner, and post the meeting notice in a specific location.
All state and local government meetings must be open to the public. The only exception provided by the act when government bodies can meet behind closed doors is during executive sessions. But the act dictates what subjects warrant executive sessions. Also under the act, the subjects of discussion in executive session must be listed on the meeting notice and a majority of the government body must first meet in the open and announce the provision under the Texas Open Meetings Act that will permit an executive session. A government body cannot take final action when it is in a closed session. During a closed session, the government body also must keep a record of the closed proceedings.
Provisions authorizing deliberations in executive session
The following exceptions in the statute permit government bodies to meet in closed session, or executive session:
1. Consultation with the government body's attorney
2. Deliberation about real property or gifts and donations
3. Deliberation on personnel matters
4. Deliberation on security devices
5. Deliberations applicable to certain entities, such as inmate parole interviews by the Board of Pardons and Paroles
6. Certain school board deliberations
7. School boards operating under the consultation agreement
Important terminology
Under the Texas Open Meetings Act, the presence of the following factors are conditions together qualify an open meeting and therefore subject under the statute.
A quorum of a governmental body, or a quorum of a governmental body and another person, meets to deliberate or take formal action on the public business or public policy which that governmental body has supervision over or control over.
If the following factors are present and the following conditions also are met, and the meeting takes place behind closed doors, then the meeting is in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Who is subject under the act
The act defines "government body" as a state agency with one or more appointed or elected members. The act also applies to city and county government agencies with decision-making or quasi-judicial authority such as city councils and county commissioners' courts. The act also applies to committees formed by members of governmental bodies when considering matters pending with the parent body.
The law does not apply to advisory bodies without decision-making power, the judicial branch and federally-funded agencies. Grand jury meetings are specifically excluded from the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Quorum is defined as majority. Meetings of less than a quorum is a violation of the statute.
Deliberation is a verbal exchange during a meeting between a quorum of members of a government body, or between a quorum of members of a governmental body and any other person, concerning any issue within the jurisdiction of the governmental body or any public business.
The definitions of the words "government body," "quorum" and "deliberation" established by The Texas Open Meetings Act determines who is subject to the act and what conditions must be present to constitute a meeting and "deliberation. " The definitions have proven to vital to determining court. One such case is Acker v. Texas Water Commission in which two members of the three-member Texas Water Commission discussed a pending permit application while in the restroom, their closed-door bathroom discussion fit the definition of meeting and was a violation of the act.
Rights of the individual
Any member of the public is permitted to attend a meeting that is open to the public under the Texas Open Meetings Act. The act, however, does not entitle individuals to bring topics of discussion before the board or to speak about items on the agenda. Usually, however, the government body may allot time to individuals to speak at a public meeting.
An individual may record a meeting using audio or visual equipment, pending the equipment not disturb meeting's order.
Source: Texas Freedom of Information Handbook, Third Edition; The 1998 Open Records Act Handbook; and The 1995 Open Meetings Act Handbook.