OPEN MEETINGS ACT; ELECTRONIC MEETINGS                                       S.B. 1108 (S-3):

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                     REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

Senate Bill 1108 (Substitute S-3 as reported)

Sponsor:  Senator Lana Theis

Committee:  Local Government

CONTENT

The bill would amend the Open Meetings Act to do the following:

-- Require a public body to establish procedures to accommodate the absence of a member due to a medical condition or a statewide or locally declared state of emergency that would risk the health and safety of members or the public.

-- Exempt a meeting of any State legislative body at which a formal vote was taken from the accommodation requirements of the bill.

-- Allow a meeting of a public body to be held electronically under certain circumstances and specify that a meeting held in that manner would be subject to the same requirements as an in-person meeting.

-- Require an electronically held meeting to be conducted in a manner that permitted two-way communication between members and participants.

-- Prescribe notice requirements for meetings held electronically.

-- Prohibit a public body from requiring a person to register or provide his or her name as a condition of participating in an electronic meeting.

-- Require members of the public to be excluded from participating in a closed session of a public body held electronically, if that session complied with the Act.

MCL 15.263 et al.                                                        Legislative Analyst:  Dana Adams

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill could have a negative fiscal on State and local government. Under the bill, all meetings of a public body held electronically would have to make available to absent members and the public the ability for members and the public to participate in those meetings via two-way communication. Any costs associated with the public body making this communication available would be the public body's responsibility. The costs are indeterminate and would depend on the extent to which the public body had to purchase any hardware or software necessary to comply with the bill's requirements.

Date Completed:  10-7-20                                                   Fiscal Analyst:  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.