THE ATTORXEP GENERML 

OF TEXAS 

Honorable Ernestine V. Glossbrenner Opinion No. JM-1072 

Chairman 

Public Education Committee Re: Whether certain 

Texas House of Representatives subcommittees of the 

P. O..Box 2910 board of trustees of 

Austin, Texas 78768-2910 school districts are 

subject to the Texas 

Open Meetings Act, 

article 6252-17, 

V.T.C.S. (RQ-1702) 

Dear Representative Glossbrenner: 

As chair of the House Public Education Committee, YOU 

,inquire about the extent to which the Texas Open Meetings 

Act, article 6252-17, V.T.C.S., applies to committees of the 

board of trustees of a school district. In specific, YOU 

ask about a committee of members of the board of trustees 

that comprises less than a quorum of the board. YOU 

indicate that the committee at issue "performs functions 

regarding matters affecting the school district." We 

presume that your question is limited to those functions 

that such a committee may lawfully perform. See Webster v. 

Texas & Pac. Motor TransD. Co., 166 S.W.2d 75, 76 (Tex. 

1942). 

The Open Meetings Act requires that each "governmental 

body" in this state post notice for and deliberate at meetings that are open to the public unless a closed session is 

expressly permitted. V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17, § Z(a); see Cox 

Enterprises, Inc. v. Board of Trustees of Austin Indeo. 

School Dist., 706 S.W.2d 956, 960 (Tex. 1986); see also 

Attorney General Ooinion H-3 (1973) (act ooens decision-making process); but see Citv of San Antonio v. Aquilar, 670 

S.W.2d 681, 686 (Tex. APP. '- San Antonio 1984, writ ref'd 

n.r.e.) (attorney-client privilege may form separate basis 

for closed meeting). The act encompasses each "meeting," 

which is defined, in part, as !'any deliberation between a 

quorum of members of a governmental body." V.T.C.S. art. 

6252-17, 5 l(a) (emphasis added). A "quorum" is a majority 

of the governing body. & 5 l(d). Many governmental 

bodies believe that the act does not apply when a quorum is 

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I 

Honorable Ernestine V. Glossbrenner - Page 2 (JM-1072) 

not present. Whether such subcommittees are themselves 

subject to the act depends, in part, on the act's definition 

of "governmental body." 

Section l(c) of the Open Meetings Act provides: 

'Governmental body' means any board, 

commission, department, committee, or agency 

within the executive or legislative department of the state, which is under the 

direction of one or more elected or appointed 

members: and every Commissioners Court and 

city council in the state, and every deliberative body. having rule-making or quasijudicial power and classified as a department, agency, or political subdivision of a 

county or city: and the board of trustees of 

everv school district. and everv countv board 

of school trustees and countv board of educat&z$J; and the governing board of every 

special district heretofore or hereafter 

created by law. 

V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17, 5 l(c). For a local-level entity to 

constitute a "governmental body" under section l(c), as a 

general rule, the entity must fall within one of the 

section's three specific descriptions. Attorney General 

Opinions JM-794 (1987); JM-340 (1985). Subcommittees of 

school districts are not listed expressly. 

The first category includes "every deliberative body 

having rule-making or quasi-judicial power and classified as 

a department, agency, or political subdivision of a county 

or city." V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17, 5 l(c). Subcommittees or 

agencies of a .city or county therefore fall. within the 

definition of "governmental body" when they have rule-making 

or quasi-judicial power. See, cl 

Opinions JM-1007 (1989), H-1281 (t978j 

Attorney General 

(salary grievance 

committees); MW-506 (1982) (board of trustees of firemen's 

retirement fund has quasi-judicial powers and is agency of 

city): MW-177 (1980) (higher education authority created by 

city or cities); H-554 (1975) (hospital authority that 

performs governmental function and that is created by city). 

The act does not cover a purely "advisory" agency of a 

county or city that is not composed of members of the 

governmental body. See Attorney General Opinion H-467 

(1974) (city's library'board). 

The definition of "governmental body" also lists two 

other categories of local-level entities: school districts 

and special districts. The definition does not list 

P. 5584 
Honorable Ernestine V. Glossbrenner - Page 3 (JM-1072) 

agencies or committees subordinate to school districts and 

special districts. Attorney General Opinion JM-340 (1985). 

This omission implies that subcommittees of school districts 

and other special districts are not covered by the act. 

This does not, however, prevent a subcommittee of a special 

district covered by the act from falling within the scope of 

the Open Meetings Act. This is true particularly in regard 

to subcommittees comprising members of the parent governmental body. 

When a subcommittee includes members of a parent 

governmental body, the subcommittee itself may be covered by 

the Open Meetings Act. In 1973, the attorney general 

considered whether a state-level entity, the Texas Board of 

Mental Health and Mental Retardation, could institute, a 

practice of dividing board members into several specialized 

committees. Attorney General Opinion H-3 (1973). The 

committees were to meet with the board's staff to study 

specific matters and recommend actions at open meetings of 

the whole board. Reasoning that the board might simply 

"rubber-stamp" the committees' recommendations and that this 

would deprive the public of access to the board's actual 

decision-making process, the attorney general concluded that 

committees composed of members of the board, even if less 

than a quorum,, must comply with the Open Meetings Act. Id. 

at 10; see also Attorney General Opinion H-823 (1976). A 

similar approach applies to analysis of special d'istricts' 

subcommittees. For example, standing committees of special 

districts that are composed of members of the governing 

board of the special districts must comply with the Open 

Meetings Act when the standing subcommittees discuss public 

business or policy. Attorney General Opinion H-238 (1974) 

(standing committee of board of managers of hospital 

district). 

You indicate that the school district subcommittee at 

issue "performs functions regarding matters affecting the 

school district." If the committee at issue is composed of 

one or more members of the school board, the committee 

itself is subject to the Open Meetings Act.1 Moreover, as 

1. The criminal sanctions of the act may also be of 

concern when the members of an entity covered by the act 

divide into or participate in subcommittees. See, e.q 

Attorney General Opinions MW-390 (1981); MW-28. (1979;: 

Proving a criminal offense depends on proof of the requisite 

culpable state of mind. Violation of the criminal provi- 

(Footnote Continued) 

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Honorable.Ernestine V. Glossbrenner - Page 4 (JM-1072) 

indicated, it is not clear that the board lawfully may 

delegate to a subcommittee the power to act on behalf of the 

board. See Webster v. Texas & Pac. Motor TranSD. Co., 

m. 

SUMMARY 

If a committee comprising one or more 

members of the board of trustees of a school 

district meets to discuss public business or 

policy, the committee itself is subject to 

the Texas Open Meetings Act, article 6252-17, 

V.T.C.S. 

JIM MATTOX 

Attorney General of Texas 

MARY KELLER 

First Assistant Attorney General 

LOU MCCREARY 

Executive Assistant Attorney General 

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RICK GILPIN 

Chairman, Opinion Committee 

JENNIFER S. RIGGS 

Chief, Open Government Section 

of the Opinion Committee 

Prepared by Jennifer S. Riggs 

Assistant Attorney General 

(Footnote Continued) 

sions of the act depends on what constitutes "meeting in 

numbers less than a quorum for the purpose of secret deliberations" to "knowingly conspire to circumvent" the Open 

Meetings Act. V.T.C.S. art. 6252-17, 5 4(b). 

P. 5586