Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1976 )

-i . .. . ~=JZ ATIVDKNEY GENEKAL OF TEXAS The Honorable Joe Reeweber Opinion No. H-785 County Attorney Harris County Courthouse Re: Whether breakfast Houston, Texan lqeetingaof the Commis- donera', @wrt are required to be open to the public and preceded ., by notice under the Open Meetings Act. Dear Mr. Rmweber: You ask if breakfast meetings of the Comrdbioners’ Court are required to.be open and preceded by notice under the Open Meetings Act, 'article6252-17, V.T.C.S. Specifically, you inform ua that an individual com- missioner rubmitted a proposal to the Ilarris~County Commissioners Court that the members of the Commissioners Court'host regularly ncheduled breakfast meetings. These breakfast gatherings would not be open '. to the public and'no notice df'such would be posted. ,The purpose of such gatherings would be to provide an oppor- tunity for various invited elected offi- cials to know one another on an individ- ual basis, in an atmosphere where business dicrcusaionwould not be scheduled. p. 3312 The Honorable Joe Reaweber - page 2 (H-785) The scope of the Open Meetings Act's coverage is estab- lished in the definition of "governmental body" and “meeting.” Attorney General opinion H-772 (1976,).'Clearly, the Conunis- aionera' Court is a governmental body. Sec. l(c). It is necessary, then, to determine whether the proposed break- fasts will constitute meetings. Section 1 of the Act provides in part: 'Section 1. As used in this Act: (a) 'Meeting' means any deliberation' between.,aquorum of members of a govern- mental body at which any public business or public policy over which the govern- mental body has supervision or control is discussed or considered, or at which any formal action is taken. It shall not be construed that the intent of this defini- tion is to prohibit the gathering of mem- bers of the governmental body in numbers of a quorum or more for social functions unrelated'to the public business which is conducted by the body. . . . From this definition it is apparent that the proposed breakfasts would constitute meetings required to be open to the public and preceded by notice, if a quorum is present and "any public business or public policy over which the (Commissioners' Court] has supervision or control is discussed or considered. . . ." Only if the breakfasts are purely social in nature and do not. in s wa involve discussion or consideration of public busi=ss or -5 pu lit policy would they be outside the scope of the Act. p. 3313 \ . . - The Honorable Joe Reaweber - page 3 (H-785) SUMMARY Breakfast meetinga of the Commissioners' Court must be open to the public and pre- ceded by notice if public business or public policy over which the Court has superviaion or control is considered. Very truly yours, Attorney General Of Texas &,;. It . , irs Aaaiatant BERT i Opinion Committee jwb p. 3314