§ 42-46-6 - Notice.
SECTION 42-46-6
§ 42-46-6 Notice. – (a) All public bodies shall give written notice of their regularly scheduledmeetings at the beginning of each calendar year. The notice shall include thedates, times, and places of the meetings and shall be provided to members ofthe public upon request and to the secretary of state at the beginning of eachcalendar year in accordance with subsection (f).
(b) Public bodies shall give supplemental written publicnotice of any meeting within a minimum of forty-eight (48) hours before thedate. This notice shall include the date the notice was posted, the date, timeand place of the meeting, and a statement specifying the nature of the businessto be discussed. Copies of the notice shall be maintained by the public bodyfor a minimum of one year. Nothing contained herein shall prevent a publicbody, other than a school committee, from adding additional items to the agendaby majority vote of the members. School committees may, however, add items forinformational purposes only, pursuant to a request, submitted in writing, by amember of the public during the public comment session of the schoolcommittee's meetings. Said informational items may not be voted upon unlessthey have been posted in accordance with the provisions of this section. Suchadditional items shall be for informational purposes only and may not be votedon except where necessary to address an unexpected occurrence that requiresimmediate action to protect the public or to refer the matter to an appropriatecommittee or to another body or official.
(c) Written public notice shall include, but need not belimited to, posting a copy of the notice at the principal office of the publicbody holding the meeting, or if no principal office exists, at the building inwhich the meeting is to be held, and in at least one other prominent placewithin the governmental unit, and electronic filing of the notice with thesecretary of state pursuant to subsection (f); provided, that in the case ofschool committees the required public notice shall be published in a newspaperof general circulation in the school district under the committee'sjurisdiction; however, ad hoc committees, sub committees and advisorycommittees of school committees shall not be required to publish notice in anewspaper; however, nothing contained herein shall prevent a public body fromholding an emergency meeting, upon an affirmative vote of the majority of themembers of the body when the meeting is deemed necessary to address anunexpected occurrence that requires immediate action to protect the public. Ifan emergency meeting is called, a meeting notice and agenda shall be posted assoon as practicable and shall be electronically filed with the secretary ofstate pursuant to subsection (e) and, upon meeting, the public body shall statefor the record and minutes why the matter must be addressed in less thanforty-eight (48) hours and only discuss the issue or issues which created theneed for an emergency meeting. Nothing contained herein shall be used in thecircumvention of the spirit and requirements of this chapter.
(d) Nothing within this chapter shall prohibit any publicbody, or the members thereof, from responding to comments initiated by a memberof the public during a properly noticed open forum even if the subject matterof a citizen's comments or discussions were not previously posted, providedsuch matters shall be for informational purposes only and may not be voted onexcept where necessary to address an unexpected occurrence that requiresimmediate action to protect the public or to refer the matter to an appropriatecommittee or to another body or official. Nothing contained in this chapterrequires any public body to hold an open forum session, to entertain or respondto any topic nor does it prohibit any public body from limiting comment on anytopic at such an open forum session. No public body, or the members thereof,may use this section to circumvent the spirit or requirements of this chapter.
(e) A school committee may add agenda items not appearing inthe published notice required by this section under the following conditions:
(1) The revised agenda is electronically filed with thesecretary of state pursuant to subsection (f), and is posted on the schooldistrict's website and the two (2) public locations required by this section atleast forty-eight (48) hours in advance of the meeting;
(2) The new agenda items were unexpected and could not havebeen added in time for newspaper publication;
(3) Upon meeting, the public body states for the record andminutes why the agenda items could not have been added in time for newspaperpublication and need to be addressed at the meeting;
(4) A formal process is available to provide timely notice ofthe revised agenda to any person who has requested that notice, and the schooldistrict has taken reasonable steps to make the public aware of this process;and
(5) The published notice shall include a statement that anychanges in the agenda will be posted on the school district's web site and thetwo (2) public locations required by this section and will be electronicallyfiled with the secretary of state at least forty-eight (48) hours in advance ofthe meeting.
(f) All notices required by this section to be filed with thesecretary of state shall be electronically transmitted to the secretary ofstate in accordance with rules and regulations which shall be promulgated bythe secretary of state. This requirement of the electronic transmission andfiling of notices with the secretary of state shall take effect one year afterthis subsection takes effect.
(g) If a public body fails to transmit notices in accordancewith this section, then any aggrieved person may file a complaint with theattorney general in accordance with § 42-46-8.