To provide that meetings of Government agencies 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, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.-This Act may be cited as 3 4 the "Government in the Sunshine Act." 5 SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF POLICY.-It is hereby de6 clared to be the policy of the United States that the public 7 is entitled to the fullest practicable information regarding 8 the decisionmaking processes of the Federal Government. 9 It is the purpose of this Act to provide the public with such 10 information, while protecting the rights of individuals and 11 the ability of the Government to carry out its responsibilities. (357) I 1 2 2 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.-For purposes of this Act the term "person" includes an individual, partnership, cor 3 poration, association, or public or private organization other 4 than an agency. 5 6 SEC. 4. (a) This section applies, according to the provisions thereof, to the Federal Election Commission and to 7 any agency, as defined in section 551 (1) of title 5, United 8 States Code, where the collegial body comprising the agency 9 consists of two or more individual members, at least a major10 ity of whom are appointed to such position by the President 11 with the advice and consent of the Senate. Except as provided 12 in subsection (b), all meetings of such collegial body, or of 13 a subdivision thereof authorized to take action on behalf of 14 the agency, shall be open to the public. For purposes of this 15 section, a meeting means the deliberations of at least the 16 number of individual agency members required to take action 17 on behalf of the agency where such deliberations concern the 18 joint conduct or disposition of official agency business. 19 220 (b) Except where the agency finds that the public in20 terest requires otherwise, (1) subsection (a) shall not apply 21 to any agency meeting, or any portion of an agency meeting, 22 or to any meeting, or any portion of a meeting, of a sub23 division thereof authorized to take action on behalf of the 24 agency, and, (2) the requirements of subsections (c) and 25 (d) shall not apply to any information pertaining to such 3 1 meeting otherwise required by this section to be disclosed to 2 the public, where the agency, or the subdivision thereof con3 ducting the meeting, properly determines that such portion 4 or portions of its meeting, or such information, can be reason5 ably expected to 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 (1) disclose matters (A) specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interests of national defense or foreign policy and (B) are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order; (2) relate solely to the agency's own internal personnel rules and practices; (3) disclose information of a personal nature where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; (4) involve accusing any person of a crime, or formally censuring any person; (5) disclose information contained in investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but 20 only to the extent that the disclosure would (A) inter fere with enforcement proceedings, (B) deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial ad judication, (C) constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (D) disclose the identity of a confidential source, (E) in the case of a record compiled 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 23 4 by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, disclose confidential information furnished only by the confidential source, (F) disclose investigative techniques and procedures, or (G) endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel; (6) disclose trade secrets, or financial or commercial information obtained from any person, where such trade secrets or other information could not be obtained by the agency without a pledge of confidentiality, or where such information must be withheld from the 13 public in order to prevent substantial injury to the com petitive position of the person to whom such information relates; (7) disclose information which must be withheld from the public in order to avoid premature disclosure of an action or a proposed action by (A) an agency which regulates currencies, securities, commodities, or financial institutions where such disclosure would (i) lead to significant finan cial speculation in currencies, securities, or commod ities, or (ii) significantly endanger the stability of any financial institution; (B) any agency where such disclosure would 5 significantly frustrate implementation of the pro posed agency action, or private action contingent thereon; or (C) any agency relating to the purchase by such agency of real property. This paragraph shall not apply in any instance where the agency has already disclosed to the public the content or nature of its proposed action, or where the agency is required by law to make such disclosure on its own. initiative prior to taking final agency action on such proposal; (8) disclose information contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions; (9) specifically concern the agency's participation in a civil action in Federal or State court, or the initiation, conduct, or disposition by the agency of a particular case of formal agency adjudication pursuant to the procedures in section 554 of title 5, United States Code, or otherwise involving a determination on the record after opportunity for a hearing; or (10) disclose information required to be withheld from the public by any other statute establishing par |