2018 Michigan Compiled Laws
Chapter 15 - Public Officers and Employees
Act 267 of 1976 OPEN MEETINGS ACT (15.261 - 15.275)
Section 15.263 Meetings, decisions, and deliberations of public body; requirements; attending or addressing meeting of public body; tape-recording, videotaping, broadcasting, and telecasting proceedings; rules; exclusion from meeting; exemptions.
Sec. 3.
(1) All meetings of a public body shall be open to the public and shall be held in a place available to the general public. All persons shall be permitted to attend any meeting except as otherwise provided in this act. The right of a person to attend a meeting of a public body includes the right to tape-record, to videotape, to broadcast live on radio, and to telecast live on television the proceedings of a public body at a public meeting. The exercise of this right shall not be dependent upon the prior approval of the public body. However, a public body may establish reasonable rules and regulations in order to minimize the possibility of disrupting the meeting.
(2) All decisions of a public body shall be made at a meeting open to the public.
(3) All deliberations of a public body constituting a quorum of its members shall take place at a meeting open to the public except as provided in this section and sections 7 and 8.
(4) A person shall not be required as a condition of attendance at a meeting of a public body to register or otherwise provide his or her name or other information or otherwise to fulfill a condition precedent to attendance.
(5) A person shall be permitted to address a meeting of a public body under rules established and recorded by the public body. The legislature or a house of the legislature may provide by rule that the right to address may be limited to prescribed times at hearings and committee meetings only.
(6) A person shall not be excluded from a meeting otherwise open to the public except for a breach of the peace actually committed at the meeting.
(7) This act does not apply to the following public bodies, but only when deliberating the merits of a case:
(a) The Michigan compensation appellate commission operating as described in either of the following:
(i) Section 274 of the worker's disability compensation act of 1969, 1969 PA 317, MCL 418.274.
(ii) Section 34 of the Michigan employment security act, 1936 (Ex Sess) PA 1, 421.34.
(b) The state tenure commission created in section 1 of article VII of 1937 (Ex Sess) PA 4, MCL 38.131, when acting as a board of review from the decision of a controlling board.
(c) The employment relations commission or an arbitrator or arbitration panel created or appointed under 1939 PA 176, MCL 423.1 to 423.30.
(d) The Michigan public service commission created under 1939 PA 3, MCL 460.1 to 460.11.
(8) This act does not apply to an association of insurers created under the insurance code of 1956, 1956 PA 218, MCL 500.100 to 500.8302, or other association or facility formed under that act as a nonprofit organization of insurer members.
(9) This act does not apply to a committee of a public body that adopts a nonpolicymaking resolution of tribute or memorial, which resolution is not adopted at a meeting.
(10) This act does not apply to a meeting that is a social or chance gathering or conference not designed to avoid this act.
(11) This act does not apply to the Michigan veterans' trust fund board of trustees or a county or district committee created under 1946 (1st Ex Sess) PA 9, MCL 35.602 to 35.610, when the board of trustees or county or district committee is deliberating the merits of an emergent need. A decision of the board of trustees or county or district committee made under this subsection shall be reconsidered by the board or committee at its next regular or special meeting consistent with the requirements of this act. "Emergent need" means a situation that the board of trustees, by rules promulgated under the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328, determines requires immediate action.
History: 1976, Act 267, Eff. Mar. 31, 1977 ;-- Am. 1981, Act 161, Imd. Eff. Nov. 30, 1981 ;-- Am. 1986, Act 269, Imd. Eff. Dec. 19, 1986 ;-- Am. 1988, Act 158, Imd. Eff. June 14, 1988 ;-- Am. 1988, Act 278, Imd. Eff. July 27, 1988 ;-- Am. 2016, Act 504, Eff. Apr. 9, 2017
Admin Rule: R 35.621 of the Michigan Administrative Code.
