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Finally, Some Clarification on Public Comment
Eichelbaum Wardell Hansen Powell & Muñoz, P.C.
Client Alert
April 23, 2020
Finally, Some Clarification on Public Comment
Today Attorney General Ken Paxton released an opinion (KP-0300) clarifying the changes made to the Open Meetings Act that address public comment in open meetings of a governmental body. The amended section reads:
A governmental body shall allow each member of the public who desires to address the body regarding an item on an agenda for an open meeting of the body to address the body regarding the item at the meeting before or during the body’s consideration of the item. Tex. Gov’t Code § 551.007(b).
The requestor asked whether the governmental body could hold one public comment period at the beginning of the meeting to address all agenda items rather than having to stop before each agenda item and hear comments about the item immediately prior to consideration. Attorney General Paxton opined that the governmental body may decide if it wishes to hear public comments on all agenda items at once at the beginning of the meeting, or if it would prefer to hear comments immediately prior to discussion of the agenda items. The only requirement in the statute is that the public be given the opportunity to speak “before” the agenda item, “before” not being specially described.
The requestor also asked if the governmental body can limit the total amount of time a speaker may speak, particularly if the speaker wishes to address multiple items on the agenda. Governmental bodies wondered if a single citizen must have full time to separately address each of multiple items on the agenda. If the limit on public comment is, for example, three minutes, does the board have to give a member of the public three minutes for each item on the agenda? Attorney General Paxton pointed out that Government Code § 551.007(c) permits the governmental body to set “reasonable rules” regarding the public’s ability to address the board, including “the total amount of time” given to an individual. On this section the Attorney General doesn’t give much guidance. He says that the amount of time is something that the governmental body must decide based on the number of agenda items and their complexity, among other factors. So, it is reasonable to conclude that the board can change the amount of time allotted each speaker at a given meeting. AG Paxon, however, notes that a body’s decision is subject to judicial review.
If you have questions about public comment or open meetings issues, our attorneys are ready to assist. Please contact us at (800) 488-9045 or information@edlaw.com.
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