2748

VETOES

effectiveness and implementation of the bill.

Because of the widespread public interest in Senate
Bill 289 and its representation as an "open government"
or "sunshine" measure, it should initially be pointed out
that the law already requires all State executive
agencies and most local executive agencies, whether
exercising legislative, quasi-legislative, or advisory
functions as defined in the bill, to make their final
decisions at open public meetings; and I have received
few, if any, complaints that State agencies have not
complied with the law. The General Assembly and most of
the local legislative bodies also conduct their
proceedings in public. It would be grossly inaccurate
and unfair, therefore, to consider State or local
government as being closed to the public or as operating
without the opportunity for public observation and
participation. This is not to say that more of the
decision making process should not be open to public
view.

My objections, as noted, are to some of the specific
provisions of the bill and their probable or potential
consequences; and some explanation of these provisions is
therefore appropriate. To understand their interplay,
one must consider first, what the bill requires; second,
to whom it applies; and third, what the remedies are for
violations.

The bill adds new sections 7 through 15 to Article
76A of the Code — the Public Information Act. It
requires three things of the public bodies to which it
applies; namely:

(1)   In section 12, it requires these public bodies
to give advance public notice of all of their meetings
which, whenever reasonable under all the circumstances,
must be in writing.

(2)    In section 10, it requires that these meetings
themselves be open to the public unless authorized or
required to be closed by section 11 or the Constitution.
Section 11(a) provides thirteen circumstances under which
a meeting may be closed.

(3)    In section 13, it requires that these bodies
keep written minutes of their meetings, including "the
topical substance of all matters proposed, discussed, or
decided, and a record by individual member of any
recorded final votes taken."

To determine which public bodies are subject to the
bill, one must read sections 8 and 9 together. Section 9
provides that the bill applies to a public body when it
is exercising legislative, quasi—legislative, or advisory