Senate Bill No. 121–Committee on Government
Affairs
February 13, 2001
____________
Referred to Committee on Government Affairs
SUMMARY—Makes various changes concerning recording
of public meetings and attendance of workshops. (BDR 19‑32)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: Yes.
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EXPLANATION
– Matter in bolded italics is new; matter
between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
Green numbers along
left margin indicate location on the printed bill (e.g., 5-15 indicates page 5, line 15).
AN ACT relating to public bodies; requiring a public body to post the notice and minutes
of a public meeting on the Internet; requiring a public body to make an audio
recording of a public meeting and to retain the recording for 3 years;
authorizing a public body to charge a fee for providing a copy of such an audio
recording to a person; requiring a member of certain agencies to be present at
a workshop of the agency concerning a proposed regulation of the agency; and providing
other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
1-1 Section 1. NRS 241.020
is hereby amended to read as follows:
1-2 241.020 1. Except as otherwise provided by specific
statute, all
1-3 meetings of public bodies
must be open and public, and all persons must be
1-4 permitted to attend any
meeting of these bodies. Public officers and
1-5 employees responsible for
these meetings shall make reasonable efforts to
1-6 assist and accommodate
physically handicapped persons desiring to attend.
1-7 2. Except in an emergency,
written notice of all meetings must be
1-8 given at least 3 working
days before the meeting. The notice must include:
1-9 (a) The time, place and location of the meeting.
1-10 (b) A list of the locations where the notice has been posted.
1-11 (c) An agenda consisting of:
1-12 (1) A clear and complete statement of the topics scheduled to be
1-13 considered during the
meeting.
1-14 (2) A list describing the items on which action may be taken and
1-15 clearly denoting that action
may be taken on those items.
1-16 (3) A period devoted to comments by the general public, if any,
and
1-17 discussion of those
comments. No action may be taken upon a matter
1-18 raised under this item of
the agenda until the matter itself has been
2-1 specifically included on an
agenda as an item upon which action may be
2-2 taken pursuant to
subparagraph (2).
2-3 3. Minimum public notice
is:
2-4 (a) Posting a copy of the notice at the principal office of the
public
2-5 body, or if there is no
principal office, at the building in which the meeting
2-6 is to be held, and at not
less than three other separate, prominent places
2-7 within the jurisdiction of
the public body not later than 9 a.m. of the third
2-8 working day before the
meeting; [and]
2-9 (b) Posting a copy of
the notice on a public website on the Internet or
2-10 its successor, if any, not later than 9 a.m. of the third working
day before
2-11 the meeting; and
2-12 (c) Mailing a copy of the notice
to any person who has requested notice
2-13 of the meetings of the body
in the same manner in which notice is required
2-14 to be mailed to a member of
the body. A request for notice lapses 6 months
2-15 after it is made. The public
body shall inform the requester of this fact by
2-16 enclosure with or notation
upon the first notice sent. The notice must be
2-17 delivered to the postal
service used by the body not later than 9 a.m. of the
2-18 third working day before the
meeting.
2-19 4. Upon any request, a
public body shall provide, at no charge, at least
2-20 one copy of:
2-21 (a) An agenda for a public meeting;
2-22 (b) A proposed ordinance or regulation which will be discussed at
the
2-23 public meeting; and
2-24 (c) Any other supporting material provided to the members of the
body
2-25 for an item on the agenda,
except materials:
2-26 (1) Submitted to the public body pursuant to a nondisclosure or
2-27 confidentiality agreement;
2-28 (2) Pertaining to the closed portion of such a meeting of the
public
2-29 body; or
2-30 (3) Declared confidential by law.
2-31 5. As used in this section,
“emergency” means an unforeseen
2-32 circumstance which requires
immediate action and includes, but is not
2-33 limited to:
2-34 (a) Disasters caused by fire, flood, earthquake or other natural
causes;
2-35 or
2-36 (b) Any impairment of the health and safety of the public.
2-37 Sec. 2. NRS 241.035 is hereby amended to read as follows:
2-38 241.035 1. Each public body shall keep written minutes
of each of its
2-39 meetings, including:
2-40 (a) The date, time and place of the meeting.
2-41 (b) Those members of the body who were present and those who were
2-42 absent.
2-43 (c) The substance of all matters proposed, discussed or decided
and, at
2-44 the request of any member, a
record of each member’s vote on any matter
2-45 decided by vote.
2-46 (d) The substance of remarks made by any member of the general
2-47 public who addresses the
body if he requests that the minutes reflect his
2-48 remarks or, if he has
prepared written remarks, a copy of his prepared
2-49 remarks if he submits a copy
for inclusion.
3-1 (e) Any other information which any member of the body requests to
be
3-2 included or reflected in the
minutes.
3-3 2. Minutes of public meetings are public
records. Minutes [or
3-4 audiotape] and audio recordings of the meetings must be
made available
3-5 for inspection by the public
within 30 working days after the adjournment
3-6 of the meeting at which
taken. The minutes shall be deemed to have
3-7 permanent value and must be
retained by the public body for at least 5
3-8 years. Thereafter, the
minutes may be transferred for archival preservation
3-9 in accordance with NRS
239.080 to 239.125, inclusive. Minutes of
3-10 meetings closed pursuant to
NRS 241.030 become public records when the
3-11 body determines that the
matters discussed no longer require
3-12 confidentiality and the
person whose character, conduct, competence or
3-13 health was discussed has
consented to their disclosure. That person is
3-14 entitled to a copy of the
minutes upon request whether or not they become
3-15 public records.
3-16 3. All or part of any meeting of a public body
may be recorded on
3-17 audiotape or any other means
of sound or video reproduction by a member
3-18 of the general public if it
is a public meeting so long as this in no way
3-19 interferes with the conduct
of the meeting.
3-20 4. Each public body [may]
shall record on
audiotape or any other
3-21 means of sound reproduction
each of its meetings, whether public or
3-22 closed. [If] An audio recording of a
meeting [is so recorded:
3-23 (a) The record must] :
3-24 (a) Must be retained by the public
body for at least [1 year] 3 years
3-25 after the adjournment of the
meeting at which it was recorded.
3-26 (b) [The record of a public meeting is] Is a
public record and must be
3-27 made available for
inspection by the public during the time the record is
3-28 retained.
3-29 Any record made pursuant to
this subsection must be made available to the
3-30 attorney general upon
request.
3-31 5. [If a public body elects to record a public meeting pursuant
to the
3-32 provisions of subsection 4, any] Any portion of [that meeting which]
a
3-33 meeting that is closed must also be recorded and [must be]
retained
3-34 pursuant to subsection 4 and must
be made available for inspection
3-35 pursuant to the provisions
of subsection 2 relating to records of closed
3-36 meetings. Any record made
pursuant to this subsection must be made
3-37 available to the attorney
general upon request.
3-38 6. A public body may charge a fee for providing
a copy of an audio
3-39 recording of a meeting. The amount of such fee must not exceed the
3-40 actual cost to the public body of providing such a copy.
3-41 7. A public body shall post the minutes of a
meeting on a public
3-42 website on the Internet or its successor, if any, within 30 working
days
3-43 after the adjournment of the meeting.
3-44 Sec. 3. NRS 233B.061 is hereby amended to read as follows:
3-45 233B.061 1. All interested persons must be afforded a
reasonable
3-46 opportunity to submit data,
views or arguments upon a proposed
3-47 regulation, orally or in
writing.
3-48 2. Before holding the
public hearing required pursuant to subsection 3,
3-49 an agency shall conduct at least
one workshop to solicit comments from
4-1 interested persons on one or
more general topics to be addressed in a
4-2 proposed regulation. If the agency is a board, commission or
other similar
4-3 body, at least one member of the body must be present at each
workshop.
4-4 Not less than 15 days before
the workshop, the agency shall provide notice
4-5 of the time and place set
for the workshop:
4-6 (a) In writing to each person who has requested to be placed on a
4-7 mailing list; and
4-8 (b) In any other manner reasonably calculated to provide such
notice to
4-9 the general public and any
business that may be affected by a proposed
4-10 regulation which addresses
the general topics to be considered at the
4-11 workshop.
4-12 3. With respect to
substantive regulations, the agency shall set a time
4-13 and place for an oral public
hearing, but if no one appears who will be
4-14 directly affected by the
proposed regulation and requests an oral hearing,
4-15 the agency may proceed
immediately to act upon any written submissions.
4-16 The agency shall consider
fully all written and oral submissions respecting
4-17 the proposed regulation.
4-18 4. The agency shall keep,
retain and make available for public
4-19 inspection written minutes and an audio recording of
each public hearing
4-20 held pursuant to subsection
3 in the manner provided in [subsections
1 and
4-21 2 of NRS 241.035.
4-22 5. The agency may record each public hearing held pursuant to
4-23 subsection 3 and make those recordings available for public
inspection in
4-24 the manner provided in subsection 4 of] NRS 241.035.
4-25 Sec. 4. NRS 422.224 is hereby amended to read as follows:
4-26 422.224 1. Before adopting, amending or repealing any
regulation
4-27 for the administration of a
program of public assistance or any other
4-28 program for which the
welfare division is responsible, the state welfare
4-29 administrator shall give at
least 30 days’ notice of his intended action.
4-30 2. The notice of intent to
act upon a regulation must:
4-31 (a) Include a statement of the need for and purpose of the proposed
4-32 regulation, and either the
terms or substance of the proposed regulation or a
4-33 description of the subjects
and issues involved, and of the time when, the
4-34 place where, and the manner
in which, interested persons may present their
4-35 views thereon.
4-36 (b) Include a statement identifying the entities that may be
financially
4-37 affected by the proposed
regulation and the potential financial impact, if
4-38 any, upon local government.
4-39 (c) State each address at which the text of the proposed regulation
may
4-40 be inspected and copied.
4-41 (d) Be mailed to all persons who have requested in writing that
they be
4-42 placed upon a mailing list,
which must be kept by the state welfare
4-43 administrator for that
purpose.
4-44 3. All interested persons
must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to
4-45 submit data, views or
arguments upon a proposed regulation, orally or in
4-46 writing. The state welfare
administrator shall consider fully all oral and
4-47 written submissions relating
to the proposed regulation.
4-48 4. The state welfare
administrator shall keep, retain and make available
4-49 for public inspection
written minutes and an audio
recording of each
5-1 public hearing held pursuant
to this section in the manner provided in
5-2 [subsections 1 and 2 of NRS 241.035.
5-3 5. The state welfare administrator may record each public hearing
held
5-4 pursuant to this section and make those recordings available for
public
5-5 inspection in the manner provided in subsection 4 of] NRS 241.035.
5-6 [6.] 5.
No objection to any regulation on the
ground of noncompliance
5-7 with the procedural
requirements of this section may be made more than 2
5-8 years after its effective
date.
5-9 Sec. 5. NRS 422.2369 is hereby amended to read as follows:
5-10 422.2369 1. Before adopting, amending or repealing any
regulation
5-11 for the administration of a
program of public assistance or any other
5-12 program for which the
division of health care financing and policy is
5-13 responsible, the
administrator shall give at least 30 days’ notice of his
5-14 intended action.
5-15 2. The notice of intent to
act upon a regulation must:
5-16 (a) Include a statement of the need for and purpose of the proposed
5-17 regulation, and either the
terms or substance of the proposed regulation or a
5-18 description of the subjects
and issues involved, and of the time when, the
5-19 place where, and the manner
in which, interested persons may present their
5-20 views thereon.
5-21 (b) Include a statement identifying the entities that may be
financially
5-22 affected by the proposed
regulation and the potential financial impact, if
5-23 any, upon local government.
5-24 (c) State each address at which the text of the proposed regulation
may
5-25 be inspected and copied.
5-26 (d) Be mailed to all persons who have requested in writing that
they be
5-27 placed upon a mailing list,
which must be kept by the administrator for that
5-28 purpose.
5-29 3. All interested persons
must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to
5-30 submit data, views or
arguments upon a proposed regulation, orally or in
5-31 writing. The administrator
shall consider fully all oral and written
5-32 submissions relating to the
proposed regulation.
5-33 4. The administrator shall
keep, retain and make available for public
5-34 inspection written minutes and an audio recording of
each public hearing
5-35 held pursuant to this
section in the manner provided in [subsections
1 and 2
5-36 of NRS 241.035.
5-37 5. The administrator may record each public hearing held pursuant to
5-38 this section and make those recordings available for public
inspection in
5-39 the manner provided in subsection 4 of] NRS 241.035.
5-40 [6.] 5.
An objection to any regulation on the
ground of noncompliance
5-41 with the procedural
requirements of this section may not be made more
5-42 than 2 years after its
effective date.
5-43 H