2024 24LSO-0292
STATE OF WYOMING
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0049
By the people act.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Penn, Bear, Heiner,
Jennings, Ottman, Pendergraft, Singh, Smith,
Strock and Ward and Senator(s) Laursen, D
and Salazar
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to public meetings; requiring audio or
2 video access to public meetings to the extent practicable;
3 providing for public comment at public meetings; specifying
4 when minutes of a public meeting are required to be made
5 available to the public; requiring an agency that makes an
6 audio or video recording of a public meeting to make the
7 recording available for the public; authorizing an agency
8 to erase or destroy a recording after a specified time;
9 authorizing broadcasting or recording of public meetings;
10 and providing for an effective date.
11
12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
13
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1 Section 1. W.S. 16-4-403(a), (b), (c)(intro) and by
2 creating a new subsection (e) is amended to read:
3
4 16-4-403. Meetings to be open; participation by
5 public; minutes; recordings.
6
7 (a) All meetings of the governing body of an agency
8 are public meetings, open to the public at all times,
9 except as otherwise provided. To the extent practicable,
10 public meetings shall provide live remote audio or video
11 access to the meeting by members of the public. No action
12 of a governing body of an agency shall be taken except
13 during a public meeting following notice of the meeting in
14 accordance with this act. Action taken at a meeting not in
15 conformity with this act is null and void and not merely
16 voidable.
17
18 (b) A member of the public is not required as a
19 condition of attendance at any meeting to register his
20 name, to supply information, to complete a questionnaire,
21 or fulfill any other condition precedent to his attendance.
22 A person seeking recognition at the meeting may be required
23 to give his name and affiliation. If an agency provides a
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1 timed public comment period for a specific agenda item or
2 for general public comment, the public comment period shall
3 not be closed until the timed public comment period has
4 elapsed. An agency that does not provide a timed public
5 comment period shall allow a reasonable amount of time per
6 agenda item for members of the public to provide public
7 comment.
8
9 (c) Minutes shall be compiled for each public
10 meeting. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection
11 and in W.S. 16-4-405(b), the minutes from the meeting shall
12 be made available to the public on the website of the
13 agency or at another location that is accessible to the
14 public, provided that the minutes may be removed from the
15 website of the agency after a time specified by the agency
16 if the time is not less than five (5) years and a copy of
17 the minutes remains available for public inspection.
18 Minutes of a meeting:
19
20 (e) Meetings that permit live remote audio or video
21 access to the meeting by members of the public as provided
22 in subsection (a) of this section shall be recorded. The
23 unaltered, original audio or video recording of a public
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1 meeting made for whatever purpose by or at the direction of
2 the agency shall be made available to the public on the
3 website of the agency or at another location that is
4 accessible to the public. The agency may establish a
5 standard time period to erase or destroy recordings under
6 this subsection, provided that the time period shall not be
7 less than five (5) years. No agency shall prohibit or
8 restrict the broadcast or audio or video recording of a
9 public meeting unless the agency reasonably determines that
10 the broadcast or recording would cause a disruption of the
11 meeting.
12
13 Section 2. This act is effective July 1, 2024.
14
15 (END)
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Statutes affected:
Introduced: 16-4-403