Gutting Arkansas' open meetings law

I spoke too soon. Yesterday, I published a hopeful opinion piece about legislation that, if passed, would enhance the public’s right to know enshrined in Arkansas’ 56-year-old Freedom of Information Act.

One of those bills, Senate Bill 382, would define what a public meeting is. As I noted in Monday’s column, the FOIA doesn’t specify how many members of a public body are needed in order for a gathering to become an official — and thereby public — meeting. The Arkansas Supreme Court has wrestled with the lack of a definition for years and has, rightly, expanded the law to encompass telephone discussions and email chains as meetings in certain cases.

But now Rep. Mary Bentley (R-Perryville) has filed House Bill 1610, which says a public meeting would occur when a quorum of a public body is present. A quorum is the minimum number of members a deliberative body needs to conduct official business.

If this bill becomes law, the open meetings section of the FOIA would become almost meaningless. School board members could get together in groups anytime and anywhere they choose as long as the number in the gathering is below a quorum. They could discuss and even decide policy, make personnel decisions or agree to enter contracts with you none the wiser until they call an official meeting and take a binding vote.

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https://arkansasadvocate.com/2023/03/14/gutting-arkansas-open-meetings-law/