HB 870 -- Sunshine Law

Sponsor:  Harris (23)

This bill makes various changes to the Sunshine Law.  In its main
provisions, the bill:

(1)  Expands the definition of "public meeting" to include
meetings conducted by conference call, video conference, Internet
chat, or Internet message board;

(2)  Expands the definition of "public vote" to include votes
conducted by telephone or any other electronic means;

(3)  Prohibits public governmental bodies from conducting votes
at public meetings unless the question voted upon is put to that
body's members at the same time and the public is allowed access
to the vote;

(4)  Requires notice of public meetings conducted by telephone or
other electronic means to identify the mode by which the meeting
will be conducted and the designated location where the public
may observe and attend the meeting;

(5)  Requires a public body, if it plans to meet by Internet
chat, Internet message board, or other computer link, to post a
notice of the meeting on the public body's web site in addition
to its principal office; to notify the public how to access the
meeting; and to ensure that reasonable access is granted to those
members of the public that do not have access to a home computer;

(6)  Requires public bodies to allow public meetings to be
recorded by audiotape, videotape, or other electronic means and
allows the public body to establish recording guidelines;

(7)  Requires that when a public governmental body member
transmits either a written or electronic message relating to
public business to one or more members of that body so that,
including the sender, a majority of the body's members are
copied, the sender also must transmit the message to the
custodian of records concurrently and in the same format.  The
messages received by the custodian will be public record subject
to the exceptions of Section 610.021, RSMo; and

(8)  Allows e-mail or electronic requests for public records to
be responded to in the same format.

Missouri House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 23, 2004 at 11:14 am