Open Meeting Laws

The district attorney of the county in which the violation occurred is responsible for enforcing the Open Meeting Law at the local and county level. The Attorney General is responsible for enforcing the Law at the state level.

If a governmental body fails to follow the Open Meeting Law, three or more registered voters, the district attorney, or the attorney general can seek a court order. The governmental body has the burden of proving that it did not violate the Law. Any court order that is issued can include an order invalidating the action taken at the meeting at issue or an order imposing a fine against the governmental body.

Tonight I found this story on District Attorney Conte's web page, click here . The story details how the Telegram submitted a request in 2004 asking DA Conte's Office to release all Open Meeting Law complaints submitted the past 5 past five years, opinions of the DA's office and the names of those who submitted the complaints.

The DA's office refused to release the names of those who submitted the complaints to protect their confidentiality. More importantly the DA's office wanted to encourage individual citizens to freely come forward with complaints about Open Meeting Law alleged violations without fear of retribution.

The Telegram, in turn, filed an appeal with the Secretary of the Commonwealth. Glad to tell you that the Secretary of the Commonwealth agreed with the DA's Office and would not release the names of the complaintants to the Telegram.