Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                              HB 890.1
                                                 HOUSE BILL NO. 890
        INTRODUCED BY B. BARKER, S. KERNS, C. KNUDSEN, T. BROCKMAN, P. GREEN, J. ETCHART
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  A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT PROVIDING FOR INCREASED TRANSPARENCY AND
  ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVERNMENT BY REQUIRING CERTAIN GOVERNMENT ENTITIES TO RECORD
  THEIR PUBLIC MEETINGS IN AUDIO AND VIDEO FORMAT; REQUIRING THOSE ENTITIES TO MAKE THE
  AUDIO AND VIDEO RECORDINGS AVAILABLE ONLINE FOLLOWING THE PUBLIC MEETING; PROVIDING
  EXCEPTIONS; PROVIDING AN APPROPRIATION; SUPERSEDING THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT
  UNFUNDED MANDATE LAWS; AMENDING SECTIONS 2-3-214 AND 7-1-4141, MCA; AND PROVIDING
  EFFECTIVE DATES.”
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  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
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          Section 1. Section 2-3-214, MCA, is amended to read:
          "2-3-214.   Recording of meetings for certain boards. (1) Except as provided in 2-3-203 and
  subsection (6) of this section, the following boards shall record their public meetings in a an audio and video or
  audio format:
          (a)      the board of investments provided for in 2-15-1808;
          (b)      the public employees' retirement board provided for in 2-15-1009;
          (c)      the teachers' retirement board provided for in 2-15-1010;
          (d)      the board of public education provided for in Article X, section 9, of the Montana constitution;
  and
          (e)      the board of regents of higher education provided for in Article X, section 9, of the Montana
  constitution;
          (f)      the governing board of a county provided for in Title 7, chapter 1, part 21;
          (g)      the governing board of a municipality provided for in Title 7, chapter 1, part 41;
          (h)      a first class or second class school district board of trustees provided for in Article X, section 8,
  of the Montana constitution, 20-6-201, and 20-6-301; and
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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                             HB 890.1
          (i)      a local board of health provided for in Title 50, chapter 2, part 1.
          (2)   All good faith efforts to record meetings in a video format must be made, but if a board is unable to
  record a meeting in a video format, it must record the meeting in an audio format.
          (3)(2)   (a) The boards listed in subsection (1) must subsections (1)(a) through (1)(e) shall make the
  audio and video or audio recordings of meetings under subsection (1) publicly available within 1 business day
  after the meeting through broadcast on the state government broadcasting service as provided in 5-11-1111 or
  through publication of streaming audio and video or audio content on the respective board's website.
          (b)      The boards listed in subsections (1)(f) through (1)(i) shall make the audio and video recordings
  publicly available within 5 business days after the meeting with a link to the recording on the respective board's
  website. If the board does not maintain a website, it shall maintain a social media page and provide a link to the
  recording on the social media page.
          (b)(c)   The department of administration may develop a memorandum of understanding with the
  legislative services division for broadcasting executive branch content on the state government broadcasting
  service or live-streaming audio or video executive branch content over the internet.
          (3)      For the boards listed in subsections (1)(f) through (1)(i) that maintain minutes as required by 2-
  3-212, the audio and video recordings created pursuant to this section are not required to be the official record
  of the meeting. If a recording is not designated as the official record, the recording may be destroyed after
  being retained online for 1 year.
          (4)      A board is not required to disrupt or reschedule a meeting if there is a technological failure of
  the meeting recording. If the recording is not able to be made available online, the board shall prominently post
  a notice in the same manner as a notice of a public meeting and shall post a notice at all locations where the
  meeting recording links are available. The notice must explain the reason the meeting was not recorded and
  describe the steps taken to remedy the failure prior to the next meeting.
          (5)      The requirements of this section apply only when a board is hearing, discussing, or acting on a
  matter over which the board has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power at a public meeting as
  defined in 2-3-202 that has been publicly noticed as required by 2-3-103.
          (6)      The requirements of this section do not apply:
          (a)      to a board listed in subsection (1)(f) when a quorum is incidentally established solely on the
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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                              HB 890.1
  basis of sharing a common office space; or
          (b)      if a board's access to internet services is limited to services operating with a download speed of
  5 megabits per second or less and an upload speed of 5 megabits per second or less.
          (7)      Expenditures by a school district on staff, consultants, equipment, software licenses, storage,
  or security made to fulfill the requirements of this section qualify as a school facility project under 20-9-525."
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          Section 2. Section 7-1-4141, MCA, is amended to read:
          "7-1-4141.     Public meeting required. (1) All meetings of municipal governing bodies, boards,
  authorities, committees, or other entities created by a municipality shall must be open to the public except as
  provided in 2-3-203.
          (2)      Appropriate minutes shall Subject to the requirements of 2-3-214, appropriate minutes must be
  kept of all public meetings and shall must be made available upon on request to the public for inspection and
  copying."
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          NEW SECTION. Section 3.         Appropriation. There is appropriated $5,000 from the state general fund
  to the department of administration for the biennium beginning July 1, 2023, for the purposes of adopting
  administrative rules under 2-17-518 to provide guidance and best practices for the local governments entities in
  [section 1(1)(f) through (1)(i)] to create audio and video meeting recordings and store and make the records
  publicly available online.
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          NEW SECTION. Section 4.         Unfunded mandate laws superseded. The provisions of [this act]
  expressly supersede and modify the requirements of 1-2-112 through 1-2-116 as they apply to local
  government units.
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          NEW SECTION. Section 5.         Effective dates. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2), [this act] is
  effective July 1, 2024.
          (2)      [Section 3] and this section are effective July 1, 2023.
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Statutes affected: 
HB0890_1.pdf: 2-3-214, 7-1-4141
HB0890_2.pdf: 2-3-214, 7-1-4141
HB0890_3.pdf: 2-3-214, 7-1-4141
Amended: 2-3-214, 7-1-4141
Introduced: 2-3-214, 7-1-4141