TEXAS TEMPORARILY SUSPENDS OPEN MEETING LAWS

16 March 2020 | Governor’s Office Clears Path for Gov­ern­men­tal Bod­ies to Meet Tele­phon­i­cal­ly or by Videoconferencing Dur­ing Coro­n­avirus Disaster

Governor Abbott’s office today approved a request by the Office of the Attorney General to temporarily suspend a limited number of open meeting laws in response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) disaster. This action will allow governmental bodies to conduct meetings by telephone or video conference to advance the public health goal of limiting face-to-face meetings (also called “social distancing”) to slow the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19).  

Importantly, however, this action does not suspend requirements that governmental bodies conduct meetings in a transparent and accessible manner. Specifically, governmental bodies are still be required to do the following: 

• provide online written notice containing a public toll-free dial-in number or a free-of-charge videoconference link, as well as an electronic copy of any agenda packet, before conducting telephonic or video conference meetings;  
• provide the public with access and a means to participate in those meetings, preferably through two-way audio or video connections; and  
• provide the public with access to a recording of those meetings.   

Read the Attorney General's notification:
www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/governors-office-clears-path-governmental-bodies-meet-telephonically-or-videoconference-during