Opinion ID: 1678629
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: did the health policy board (hpb) meet in violation of the open meetings act?

Text: Under the Open Meeting Act (Act), KRS § 61.800 et seq., [a]ll meetings of a quorum of the members of a public agency at which any public business is discussed or at which any action is taken by the agency, shall be public meetings, open to the public at all times.... The Act goes on to define twelve specific exceptions to the policy of only conducting the business of government in the full light of day, KRS § 61.810(a)-(1). To guide this Court in interpreting the Act is the legislative statement of policy, KRS § 61.800, which states that the formulation of public policy is public business and shall not be conducted in secret and that the exceptions to the Act are to be strictly [and narrowly] construed. Appellants allege that there were two specific violations of the Act by the Health Policy Board. The first occurred on August 29, 1994, in Frankfort, Kentucky, when officials of the RWJF came to conduct a site visit. The second occurred on September 28-30, 1994, in Princeton, New Jersey, at a national health care conference. For the reasons discussed below, it is rather obvious that neither instance rises to the level of a meeting within the meaning of the Act. The first allegation of a violation of the Act is incorrect because at that point no member of the HPB had been confirmed by the Senate. Therefore, as a matter of law, no violation could have taken place because there were no members of the HPB. Unconfirmed nominees are not covered by the Act. The second allegation of a violation of the Act is similarly incorrect in that no public business was discussed at the conference. The mere fact that a quorum of members of a public agency are in the same place at the same time, without more, is not sufficient to sustain a claim of a violation of the Act. For a meeting to take place within the meaning of the act, public business must be discussed or action must be taken by the agency. Public business is not simply any discussion between two officials of the agency. Public business is the discussion of the various alternatives to a given issue about which the board has the option to take action. Taking action is defined by the Act as a collective decision, a commitment or promise to make a positive or negative decision, or an actual vote by a majority of the members of the governmental body. KRS § 61.805(3). The Act prohibits a quorum from discussing public business in private or meeting in number less than a quorum for the express purpose of avoiding the open meeting requirement of the Act. KRS § 61.810(2). Accordingly, since neither instance presented by appellants constitutes a meeting in violation of the Act, we find this claim to be devoid of merit. [12]