COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4473
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates
H. White, Facemyer and Staton)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[February 27, 1998]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections two and five, article nine- a, chapter six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend
said article by adding thereto a new section, designated
section eight, all relating to permitting participation in
public meetings by teleconference in certain instances;
setting forth definitions; requiring that governing bodies
take minutes of meetings, and that such minutes include
information concerning the participation of members by
teleconference; and permitting members of governing bodies
to attend meetings by teleconference.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two and five, article nine-a, chapter six of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said article be
further amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section eight, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 9A. OPEN GOVERNMENTAL PROCEEDINGS.
§6-9A-2. Definitions.
As used in this article:
(1) "Decision" means any determination, action, vote or
final disposition of a motion, proposal, resolution, order,
ordinance or measure on which a vote of the governing body is
required at any meeting at which a quorum is present;
(2) "Executive session" means any meeting or part of a
meeting of a governing body which is closed to the public;
(3) "Governing body" means the members of any public body
having the authority to make decisions for or recommendations to
a public body on policy or administration, the membership of
which governing body consists of two or more members; for the
purposes of this article, a governing body of the Legislature
shall be any standing, select or special committee as determined
by the rules of the respective houses thereof;
(4) "Meeting" means the convening of a governing body of a
public body for which a quorum is required in order to make a
decision or to deliberate toward a decision on any matter, but
such term does not include (a) any meeting for the purpose of
making an adjudicatory decision in any quasi-judicial,
administrative or court of claims proceeding, (b) any on-site
inspection of any project or program, or (c) any political party
caucus;
(5) "Political subdivision" means any county, county board of education or municipality in or any other political
subdivision of this state;
(6) "Public body" means any executive, legislative or
administrative body or agency of this state or any political
subdivision, or any commission, board, council, bureau, committee
or subcommittee or any other agency of any of the foregoing, and
such term shall not be construed to include the judicial branch
of government, state or local; and
(7) "Quorum" means, unless otherwise defined by applicable
law, a simple majority of the constituent membership of a
governing body.
(8) "Teleconference" means the contemporaneous participation
of any member of a governing body in a meeting or any portion of
a meeting, including any executive session of a meeting, by means
of telephone conferencing, video conferencing or any other
substantially equivalent electronic means of communication, in
which each of the following qualifications is met:
(A) The member so participating is able to hear all the
proceedings of the meeting, including (i) the remarks of all of
the other members of the governing body and (ii) substantially
all those remarks of members of the public attending the meeting
which the member would be capable of hearing if the member were
attending the meeting in person; and
(B) The members of the governing body attending the meeting
in person and the person appointed or elected to take minutes of the meeting are able to hear and record the remarks of the member
so participating.
§6-9A-5. Minutes.
Each governing body shall provide for the preparation of
written minutes of all of its meetings. All such minutes shall
be available to the public within a reasonable time after the
meeting and shall include, at least, the following information:
(1) The date, time and place of the meeting;
(2) The name of each member of the governing body present
and absent, including those members attending all or a portion of
the meeting by teleconference;
(3) All motions, proposals, resolutions, orders, ordinances
and measures proposed, the name of the person proposing the same
and their disposition; and
(4) The results of all votes and, upon the request of a
member, the vote of each member, by name.
Minutes of executive sessions may be limited to material the
disclosure of which is not inconsistent with the provisions of
section four of this article.
§6-9A-8. Participation in meetings by teleconference.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a member of
a governing body may attend all or any portion of any meeting of
the governing body, including executive sessions, by
teleconference if the following requirements are met:
(1) The governing body has promulgated rules which permit members of the governing body to attend meetings of the governing
body by teleconference in accordance with this article; and
(2) The governing body (A) initiates the teleconference or
(B) takes such other measures as the governing body has specified
by rule which are designed to ensure that the person attending by
teleconference is actually the member seeking to attend the
meeting by teleconference.
(b) A member of a governing body attending a meeting by
teleconference may participate in the meeting to the same extent
as if he or she were attending the meeting in person, including
but not limited to participating in the making of decisions.
(c) A member attending a meeting by teleconference shall be
counted in the determination of whether a quorum is present at
the meeting. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, at any
meeting at which one or more members are attending by
teleconference, a majority of those members constituting a quorum
must be attending the meeting in person.
(d) Any member attending a meeting by teleconference shall
file an affidavit stating that the member attended the meeting by
teleconference with the person appointed or elected to take
minutes of the meeting. The person appointed or elected to take
minutes of the meeting shall attach the affidavit to the minutes
of the meeting at which the member attended by teleconference.
Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to delay or impair
the effectiveness of any decision made at the meeting until the member attending the meeting by teleconference has filed such an
affidavit.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow a member of a
governing body of a public body to participate in meetings of the
governing body by teleconference if certain safeguards are
observed.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be
stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new
language that would be added. However, section 6-9A-8 is new;
therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted in
that section.
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