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Agenda - 11-10-94 - III
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Agenda - 11-10-94 - III
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11/8/2016 3:09:24 PM
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BOCC
Date
11/10/1994
Meeting Type
Work Session
Document Type
Agenda
Agenda Item
III
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Minutes - 19941110
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\Board of County Commissioners\Minutes - Approved\1990's\1994
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Open Meetings Legislation <br /> [From a draft copy of David M. Lawrence, "Local Government and Local Finance," <br /> in John L. Sanders, ed.,North Carolina Legislation 1994 (Chapel Hill:Institute of <br /> Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, forthcoming,] <br /> Chapter 570 (H 120) enacts legislation making significant revisions to the open meetings <br /> law, particularly in the definition of groups subject to the law and in the occasions for which <br /> executive, or closed, sessions are permitted. In 1993 both the Senate and the House adopted <br /> versions of the bill, but they could not in that session resolve the differences in the two versions, <br /> especially their differences regarding closed sessions for personnel decisions. In 1994, however, <br /> the Senate accepted the House version of the contested provision, and the legislation was enacted. <br /> It becomes effective October 1, 1994. <br /> Public Bodies. The changes modify the definition of"public body," with the result of <br /> expanding considerably the groups subject to the statute. The definition of public body has <br /> centered on the mechanics of how a group was established, with five qualifying methods set out in <br /> the statute. If a group was established in one of those ways it was a public'body and thus subject <br /> to the statute; if it was not, it was not a public body. Chapter 570 deletes the provisions <br /> concerning the methods of establishment, so that any body of state or local government with two <br /> or more members is now subject to the open meetings law. The one possible exception centers on <br /> a provision that states that "'Public body' does not include a meeting solely among the professional <br /> staff of a public body." This appears to mean that if a group is comprised solely of professional <br /> staff, that group is not a public body. <br /> One of the effects of this change in definition is that it is now likely that a variety of <br /> nonprofit, nongovernmental groups are subject to the open meetings law. In interpreting the <br /> state's public records law, the Court of Appeals has extended that law to nonprofit entities with <br /> significant connections to one or more local governments. If, for example, a nonprofit entity's <br /> board is appointed by local government, if a nonprofit entity receives most of its funding from <br /> local government and is subject to local government fiscal supervision, or if a nonprofit entity <br /> operates a publicly-owned facility, these ties may be sufficient to cause a court to characterize its <br /> board of directors as a local government agency for public records purposes. It would not be <br /> surprising if the same sorts of tests were applied to determine if such entities should be subject to <br /> the open meetings law as well. <br /> • <br /> Closed Sessions. Most of the attention drawn by the new law has been to its provisions <br /> about what it now calls "closed" sessions. The occasions for which closed sessions are <br /> permissible have been completely revised, and some of the procedural aspects of closed sessions <br /> have been modified as well. <br /> Closed sessions are now permitted for only nine subjects (grouped in seven paragraphs in <br /> the rewritten law), down from 20 in the earlier law. These numbers are slightly misleading, <br /> however, in that one of the new subjects--confidential records--encompasses two or three <br /> f- ^ provisions of the former law. The permitted subjects for closed sessions are as follows: <br />
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