Under a committee-amended bill, the question around fully remote meetings is put to rest—fully remote meetings are allowed...in emergency situations.
The Senate State Government & Elections Committee took the opportunity when considering HB 1329, which had addressed some aspects of the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) to amend onto it a different OPMA bill, HB 1056.
You may remember HB 1056 from 2021—it was a bill to update provisions of the OPMA when it came to declared emergencies. In 2021 HB 1056 passed the House unanimously, but failed to pass the Senate before cutoff
deadlines.
With the amendment, Section 5 of HB 1329 now states that after the declaration of a local, state, or federal emergency, public agencies
may hold remote meetings with no or limited in-person public attendance. The bill also clarifies that members of the governing body are not required to attend remote meetings in person as long as they appear or attend by phone or other electronic
means that allows for real-time verbal communication. Additionally, the public agency must provide a free and readily available option for the public to view the proceedings.
Included in the bill is a requirement that cities either host or share a website with another public agency in order to post meeting notices, agendas, minutes, budgets, and other required documents. However, cities that meet the following criteria are
exempt from the website requirement:
- Has an aggregate valuation of less than $400,000,000;
- Has a population of less than 3,000 residents; and
- Provides confirmation to the state auditor at the time of filing its annual reports that the cost of hosting or sharing a website would exceed 0.1% of their budget.
Additional changes in the amendment include:
- Allowing public agencies to impose generally applicable conditions on public meeting attendance necessary to protect public health and safety or against meeting interruptions.
- Removes the requirement that special meeting notices be posted at city hall if posting cannot be done safely or if meetings being held remotely are posted on the agency’s website.
The original provisions of HB 1329 also remain in the bill and include a requirement to allow public comment at or before every regular meeting where final action is taken. Governing bodies retain the ability to make local rules governing
the provisions of the public comment period. The bill also:
- Encourages, but does not mandate, public agencies provide remote access to governing body meetings, and to record and post recordings of meetings online for at least six months.
- Requires governing bodies, if feasible, to provide an opportunity for remote oral comment for an individual at a meeting upon request if the individual will find physical attendance at a meeting difficult.