New Posting Requirements Under the Open Meetings Law

Under a new amendment to the New York State Open Meetings law (Public Officer’s Law §103), School Boards are now required to make documents available at least twenty-four hours before a meeting – to the extent practicable. Significantly, this amendment does not change the types of documents which must be made available, it only addresses the timing. As such, there is no need to change your process of preparing a confidential Board packet and public Board packet.

The justification behind the amendment to the Open Meetings Law was to increase transparency of government at all levels by providing the public with sufficient time to evaluate documents before they are acted upon by local governing bodies. The amendment specifically provides that “any proposed resolution, law, rule, regulation, policy or any amendment thereto, that is scheduled to be the subject of discussion by a public body during an open meeting” must be made available to the public at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. These documents must be made available upon request and if the district maintains a regularly and routinely updated website, on the district’s website.

Although the amendment identifies the 24 hour time period, it does not prevent ‘walk on’ items. The law expressly permits this availability “to the extent practicable,” which affords a Board some flexibility for last minute resolutions. However, last minute documents should be an exception, not a practice for your future Board meetings.

If you have any questions regarding posting requirements or the types of documents to post, please contact our office.