SECTION 91.21. How to File an Open Meeting Notice

(a) The Texas Open Meetings Law, Government Code, Chapter 551, governs the posting of open meeting notices.

(1) In accordance with the Government Code, §551.044, statewide agencies that post open meeting notices with the Secretary of State must give at least seven days' notice before the time of meeting. The Secretary of State interprets the seven-day posting requirement to mean seven full 24-hour periods before the day of the meeting. The day of posting and the day of the meeting are not included in calculating the seven-day period.

(2) In accordance with the Government Code, §551.043, non-statewide government bodies that post open meeting notices with the Secretary of State must give at least 72 hours' notice before the time of meeting.

(3) In the case of emergency or urgent public necessity, the Government Code, §551.045, excepts statewide and non-statewide agencies from the notice requirements in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection. If an emergency or urgent public necessity arises, an agency must give at least two hours' notice of an open meeting or revision to an open meeting agenda and clearly identify the emergency or urgent public necessity that exists.

(b) The Texas Register will issue a User Name and Password to agency liaisons to access the Open Meetings Submit Form on the Secretary of State's web site. In order to post an open meeting notice, you must:

(1) enter all required information into the form;

(2) include the agenda as text in the appropriate field of the web form; and

(3) click on the button labeled "Insert" to complete submission.

(c) An open meeting posting may generate one of the following acknowledgments or messages.

(1) An Acknowledgment of Receipt message indicating that the submission has been accepted and posted to the Secretary of State's web site. The message gives the agency name, the board or committee holding the meeting, the time and date of the meeting and the TRD number.

(2) An Acknowledgment of Receipt message indicating that the submission has been accepted and posted to the Secretary of State's web site but fails to meet the seven-day or 72-hour deadline. The message will give the agency name, the board or committee, the time and date of the meeting and the TRD number.

(d) Although the Open Meetings Law does not require notice of cancellation of a previously posted meeting, you may cancel an open meeting using the Open Meetings Cancellation option on the Secretary of State's web site.

(e) You may post a revision to an open meeting notice as you would a new open meeting notice except that you reference the original meeting's TRD number in the appropriate field.

(f) Do not include graphics in an open meeting notice.

(g) Do not submit an open meeting notice earlier than the 90th calendar day before the meeting date.

(h) If a meeting is to be held on consecutive days, post each day as a separate open meeting notice.

(i) Although the Open Meetings Submit Form is available to liaisons at all times, you will be able to contact Texas Register staff for assistance in posting open meeting notices only during normal business hours. If we anticipate that our web site will be off-line for an extended period of time, we will notify liaisons of an alternate means of posting open meeting notices.

Source Note: The provisions of this §91.21 adopted to be effective March 23, 2003, 28 TexReg 2303