HomeMy WebLinkAbout112525 email Open Public Meetings Act amendmentALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Hello Representative Bernbaum,
I am asking for your help in finding a sponsor for a small piece of legislation that would revise one part of RCW 42.30, the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).
A copy of the marked-up RCW is attached.
The main reason for this proposed change is that the governing bodies of some local agencies have held “retreats” (aka, Special Meetings) at locations half-way across the state from
their respective areas of jurisdiction and without remote access, thus effectively denying the public their right to attend such meetings. Further, by not recording such meetings, governing
bodies can effectively operate in total secrecy. Restricting meeting locations to “within the boundaries of the territory over which the public agency exercises jurisdiction” helps
to address this loophole.
The second, smaller, change is to allow regular meetings to be held at more than one location. For example, county commissioners may want to have a rotating schedule of meetings with
constituents at various locations around their county. This amendment would allow them to hold regular (not special) meetings in multiple locations and would allow the greater agenda
flexibility that is available at regular meetings.
I believe this legislation would be referred to the House Local Government Committee <https://leg.wa.gov/about-the-legislature/committees/house-of-representatives/lg/> ; if you could
forward this to one of your colleagues who serves on that committee and who you think might be a willing sponsor, I would be grateful.
Thank you,
Tom Thiersch
Member, Washington Coalition for Open Government <https://www.washcog.org/>
==== [RCW 42.30.010 Open Public Meetings Act <https://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=42.30&full=true> ] ==== ==== [RCW 42.56.030 Public Records Act <https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?ci
te=42.56&full=true> ] ====
"The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what
is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed and informing the people's public servants of their views so that they
may maintain control over the instruments that they have created."
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