93D CONGRESS 18T SESSION EXHIBIT 1 S. 260 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 9, 1973 Mr. CHILES (for himself, Mr. CLARK, Mr. COOK, Mr. CRANSTON, Mr. GURNEY, Mr. HART, Mr. HATFIELD, Mr. HUMPHREY, Mr. MATHIAS, Mr. METCALF, Mr. MONDALE, Mr. NELSON, Mr. PACKWOOD, Mr. PROXMIRE, Mr. ROTII, Mr. STAFFORD, Mr. STEVENSON, Mr. TUNNEY, and Mr. WEICKER) 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 Representa 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.-This Act may be cited as 4 the "Government in the Sunshine Act". 5 SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF POLICY.-It is hereby 6 declared 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 121 2 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.-For purposes of this Act (1) "National security" means (A) the protection of the United States against actual or potential attack or other hostile acts of a foreign power; (B) the obtaining of foreign intelligence information deemed essential to the security of the United States; (C) the protection of national security information against foreign intelligence activities; or (D) the protection, to the extent deemed necessary by the President of the United States against the over throw of the Government by force; and 13 (2) "Person" includes an individual, partnership, cor 14 poration, associated governmental authority, or public or 15 private organization. 16 17 TITLE I-CONGRESSIONAL PROCEDURES SEC. 101. SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING PRO18 CEDURE. (a) The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 19 is amended 80 20 21 22 23 24 (1) by striking out the third sentence of section 133 (b); (2) by striking out subsections (a), (b), and (f) of section 133A: (3) by adding after section 133B the following: 1 3 "OPEN SENATE COMMITTEE MEETINGS 2 "SEC. 133C. (a) Each meeting of each standing, select, 3 or special committee or subcommittee of the Senate, in4 cluding meetings to conduct hearings, shall be open to the 5 public: Provided, That a portion or portions of such meet6 ings may be closed to the public if the committee or sub7 committee, as the case may be, determines by vote of a 8 majority of the members of the committee present that the 9 matters to be discussed or the testimony to be taken at such portion or portions— 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 22 "(1) will disclose matters necessary to be kept secret in the interests of national security or the confidential conduct of the foreign relations of the United States; "(2) will relate solely to matters of committee staff personnel or internal staff management or procedure; "(3) will tend to charge with crime or misconduct, or to disgrace, injure the professional standing or otherwise expose to public contempt or obloquy any individual, or will represent a clearly unwarranted invasion of the privacy of any individual: Provided, That this subsection shall not apply to any government officer or employee with respect to his official duties or employ 23 ment: And provided further, That as applied to a wit 24 ness at a meeting to conduct a hearing, this subsection. 4 223 21 shall not apply unless the witness requests in writing that the hearing be closed to the public; "(4) will disclose the identity of any informer or law enforcement agent or of any information relating to the investigation or prosecution of a criminal offense that is required to be kept secret in the interests of effective law enforcement; or "(5), will disclose information relating to the trade secrets or financial or commercial information pertaining specifically to a given person where “(A) the information has been obtained by the Federal Government on a confidentiel basis other than through an application by such person for a specific government financial or other benefit; and "(B) Federal statute requires the information to be kept confidential by Government officers and employees; and "(C) the information is required to be kept secret in order to prevent undue injury to the com petitive position of such person. 22 A separate vote of the committee shall be taken with re23 spect to each committee or subcommittee meeting that is 24 closed to the public. pursuant to this subsection, and the 25 committee shall make available within one day of such 5 1 meeting, a written explanation of its action. The vote of 2 each committee member participating in each such vote 3 shall be recorded and published and no proxies shall be 4 allowed. 5 "(b) Each standing, select, or special committee or sub 6 committee of the Senate shall make public announcement of 7 the date, place, and subject matter of each meeting (whether 8 open or closed to the public) at least one week before such 9 meeting unless the committee or subcommittee determines by 10 a vote of the majority of its members that committee business 11 requires that such meeting be called at an earlier date, in 12 which case the committee shall make public announcement 13 of the date, place and subject matter of such meeting at the 14 earliest practicable opportunity. 15 16 "(c) A complete transcript, including a list of all persons attending and their affiliation, shall be made of each 17 meeting of each standing, select, or special committee or sub18 committee (whether open or closed to the public). Except as 19 provided in subsection (d) of this section, a copy of each such 20 transcript shall be made available for public inspection within 21 seven days of each such meeting, and additional copies of any 22 transcript shall be furnished to any person at the actual cost 23 of duplication. 24 "(d) In the case of meetings closed to the public pur25 suant to subsection (a) of this section, the committee or sub |