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Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Ind. Gov't. - Serial meeting bill most likely dead
On Saturday the ILB had an entry titled "Serial meeting bill in danger again." Today, Jennifer Whitson reports in the Evansville Courier& Press:
A bill to stop public bodies from getting around open meeting requirement by holding serial meetings appears to be dead for the session.Under state open access laws, if a quorum of members from a public body, such as a city council or school board, shows up for a meeting, then the meeting must be public. A quorum means the amount required by the internal rules to vote.
To get around that requirement, some public officials have met one on one with members of a board to discuss a topic and decide how to vote in the open meeting. When the open meeting arrives, the vote is held but the public misses out on the discussion behind the decision.
Senate Bill 89, carried by Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, would have made any series of meetings that includes a quorum of members and is on the same topic a violation of Indiana's open door law.The Senate passed the bill 48 to 2. In the House, the Speaker assigned it to the House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee. Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Buck, R-Kokomo, said Tuesday that he is not going to schedule the bill for a hearing.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 22, 2006 09:32 AM
Posted to Indiana Government