OPEN MEETINGS; PUBLIC COMMENT                                                               S.B. 514:

                                                                                 SUMMARY OF INTRODUCED BILL

                                                                                                         IN COMMITTEE

Senate Bill 514 (as introduced 9-12-19)

Sponsor:  Senator Betty Jean Alexander

Committee:  Judiciary and Public Safety

Date Completed:  2-5-20

CONTENT

The bill would amend the Open Meetings Act to require a public body to ensure that its rules would ensure an opportunity for public comment at a meeting of the public body.

Generally, the Act requires meetings of a public body to be open to the public and held in a place available to the general public. Notices generally are required to be posted to the public, and public attendees hold certain rights during meetings, including that a person may address a meeting of a public body under rules established and recorded by the public body. The Legislature or a house of the Legislature may provide by rule that the right to address may be limited to prescribed times at hearings and committee meetings only.

Under the bill, subject to the limitation described above applicable only to the rules of the Legislature or a house of the Legislature, a public body's rules established and recorded would have to ensure all of the following:

-- Every meeting of the public body included a public comment period that would not be prevented by concluding the meeting before the public comment period commenced.

-- A meeting would not conclude before completion of the public comment period of the meeting. 

-- During a public comment period, each attending member of the public who wished to could have at least three minutes to address the public body directly concerning any matter before it.

A person would be an attending member of the public and would have to be given an appropriate position in the public comment queue if that person arrived at the meeting any time before the public comment period was completed.

MCL 15.263                                                          Legislative Analyst:  Stephen Jackson

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.

                                                                                      Fiscal Analyst:  Ryan Bergan

                                                                                                            Joe Carrasco

This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.