92D CONGRESS 2D SESSION

S. 3881

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 4, 1972

Mr. CHILES introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Government Operations

A BILL

To provide that meetings of Government agencies and of congressional committees shall be open to the public, and

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That (a) except as provided in subsection (b), all meet4 ings (including meetings to conduct hearings) of any Gov5 ernment agency at which any official action is considered 6 or discussed shall be open to the public.

7 (b) Subsection (a) shall not apply to that portion of

8 any meetings in which the action or proposed action to be

9 taken, considered, or discussed by an agency—

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(1) relates to a matter affecting the national secu

(2) relates solely to the internal management of

such agency,

(3) might tend to reflect adversely on the character

or reputation of any individual who is subject to any proposed or potential sanction by such agency, or

(4) might divulge matters required to be kept confidential under (specified statutory provisions):

10 Provided, That this subsection does not authorize closed 11 meetings or the withholding of information from the public 12 except as specifically stated in this subsection, and is not 13 authority to withhold information from Congress. 14 (c) Each agency subject to the requirements of this sec15 tion shall, within one hundred and eighty days after the 16 effective date of this Act, establish through publication in 17 the Federal Register procedures for providing public notice 18 of meetings required by this section to be open to the public. 19 Such notice shall be given as far in advance of such meetings 20 as is practicable, in order to facilitate attendance of such meet21 ings by persons desirous of doing so.

22 SEC. 2. (a) Section 133 (b) of the Legislative Reorga23 nization Act of 1946 as amended by section 103 (a) of the 24 Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 is amended as fol25 lows:

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"(1) Each meeting (including meetings to conduct hearings) of each standing, select, special, or conference

committee of the Senate shall be open to the public, except when the committee determines that the matters to be discussed, or the testimony to be taken, relates to a matter of national security, relates solely to the internal management of such committee, may tend to reflect adversely on the character or reputation of the witness or any other individual, or may divulge matters required to be kept confidential under other provisions of law.”

(2) Clause 27 (f) (2) of rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is amended to read as follows: "Each meeting (including meetings to conduct hear

ings) of each standing, select, special, or conference committee shall be open to the public, except when the committee determines that the matters to be discussed, or the testimony to be taken, relates to a matter of national security, relates solely to the internal management

of such committee, may tend to reflect adversely on the character or reputation of the witness or any other in

dividual, or may divulge matters required to be kept

confidential under other provisions of law."

SEC. 3. A transcript shall promptly be made of each

24 meeting which is open to the public pursuant to the pro

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1 visions of this Act and copies of such transcript shall prompt

2 ly be made available for public inspections and copying.

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SEC. 4. The district courts of the United States shall

4 have original jurisdiction of actions to render declaratory 5 judgments or to enforce, by injunction or otherwise, the first 6 section of this Act and section 3 insofar as it relates to that 7 section. Such actions may be brought by any person in the 8 district where such person resides, or has his principal place 9 of business, or where the agency whose action is complained 10 of resides.

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SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.-For the purpose of this Act

(1) "Government agency" means each authority of the Government of the United States (whether or not it is within or subject to review by another Government agency) having more than one member, but does not include

(a) the Congress

(b) the courts of the United States

(c) military authorities.

(2) "person" includes an individual, partnership,

corporation, association, a public or private organization

other than an agency.

SEC. 6. This Act shall take effect on the ninetieth day

24 after the date of its enactment.

Mr. CHILES. Mr. President, the bill can be easily summarized. Section 1 requires all meetings of Government agencies at which official action is taken, considered, or discussed to be open to the public, with certain exceptions. Exceptions would be in matters relating to national defense and security or any matters required by statute to be kept confidential; meetings related to an agency's internal management; and disciplinary proceedings which could adversely affect the reputation of an individual. This section would also require agencies to adopt procedures for providing the public with advance notice of meetings.

Section 2 requires that meetings of congressional committees shall be open to the public, with exceptions similar to those cited for meetings of Government agencies.

Section 3 requires that a transcript, available to the public, be made of meetings of Government agencies and congressional committees. Section 4 provides for court enforcement of the open meeting requirement for Government agencies upon suit brought "by any person."

Section 5 defines agencies referred to in the act as all multimember Federal authorities other than the courts, Congress, or military authorities. This section also broadly defines the "person" who may seek court enforcement of the act's provisions.

Section 6 provides that the act shall be effective 90 days after

enactment.

I would like to express my indebtedness to Prof. Richard B. Stewart of the Harvard University Law School for his expert counsel in the drafting of this measure.

There is good practical precedent among the States for a Federal open meeting law. I cite the examples of two States where sunshine is particularly abundant and where sunshine laws have been conducive to good government. California was one of the first States to enact an open hearing law; Florida passed a comprehensive "Governmentin-the-Sunshine" Act in 1967, and since I was a member of the Florida Legislature at that time, I am especially familiar with it.

As early as 1953, the California Assembly enacted the Brown Act, which makes provision for open public meetings for all local government agencies-but not State government. The California attorney general also ruled that the act applies to legislative bodies of chartered cities. The case that brought forth that ruling was an instructive one, for it held invalid a San Diego Council resolution restricting attendance at "council conferences" by requiring citizens to register for the meetings and to agree to silence. The basis for that ruling is an eloquent statement of the case for sunshine laws:

The right and ability of the people to have free and open access to all meetings of local legislative bodies is vital to the preservation of an informed electorate and constitutes an elemental safeguard to democratic government. The existence of devices, loopholes or subterfuges which tend to “cabin, crib or confine" the public from free access to the meetings and deliberations of their local governmental agencies is contrary to the public policy of this State.

The Brown Act states that all public entities in the State "exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business." It declares all meetings of a local legislative body or agency to be "open and public." with no conditions on attendance by the public. The time and place of regular

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