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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1126 FILED ON: 1/14/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3328 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Tricia Farley-Bouvier and Mindy Domb |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to virtual meetings of appointed statewide public bodies. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Tricia Farley-Bouvier2nd Berkshire1/14/2025Mindy Domb3rd Hampshire1/15/2025 1 of 2 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1126 FILED ON: 1/14/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 3328 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representatives Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield and Domb of Amherst, a petition (accompanied |
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| 19 | 19 | | by bill, House, No. 3328) of Tricia Farley-Bouvier and Mindy Domb relative to virtual meetings |
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| 20 | 20 | | of appointed statewide public bodies. State Administration and Regulatory Oversight. |
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| 21 | 21 | | [SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION |
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| 22 | 22 | | SEE HOUSE, NO. 3671 OF 2023-2024.] |
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| 23 | 23 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 24 | 24 | | _______________ |
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| 25 | 25 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 26 | 26 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 27 | 27 | | _______________ |
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| 28 | 28 | | An Act relative to virtual meetings of appointed statewide public bodies. |
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| 29 | 29 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 30 | 30 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 31 | 31 | | 1 SECTION 1. Section 20 of chapter 30A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 |
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| 32 | 32 | | 2Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out subsection (d). |
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| 33 | 33 | | 3 SECTION 2. Said chapter 30A is hereby further amended by inserting after section 20 |
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| 34 | 34 | | 4the following section: |
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| 35 | 35 | | 5 Section 20A. (1) A statewide public body, hereafter “public body”, whose members are |
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| 36 | 36 | | 6appointed may allow remote participation by any member for any meeting of the public body. |
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| 37 | 37 | | 7For the purposes of this section, the term “remote participation” means participation by a |
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| 38 | 38 | | 8member of a public body during a meeting of that public body where the member is not |
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| 39 | 39 | | 9physically present at the meeting location. 2 of 2 |
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| 40 | 40 | | 10 (2) Members remotely participating in a meeting may vote and shall be considered |
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| 41 | 41 | | 11present and in attendance for all purposes, including for purposes of determining a quorum. |
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| 42 | 42 | | 12 (3) All members of the public body participating either remotely or at a meeting location |
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| 43 | 43 | | 13shall be clearly audible to one another and shall make known the names of members of the |
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| 44 | 44 | | 14public body and the public present either remotely or at a meeting location. |
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| 45 | 45 | | 15 (4) For any meeting conducted through remote participation, the public body shall make |
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| 46 | 46 | | 16provisions to ensure public access to the deliberations of the public body for interested members |
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| 47 | 47 | | 17of the public through adequate, alternative means. Adequate, alternative means of public access |
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| 48 | 48 | | 18shall mean measures that provide transparency and permit timely and effective public access to |
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| 49 | 49 | | 19the virtual meeting. Such means may include, without limitation, providing public access |
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| 50 | 50 | | 20through telephone, internet or satellite enabled audio or video conferencing or any other |
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| 51 | 51 | | 21technology that enables the public to clearly follow the proceedings of the virtual meeting while |
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| 52 | 52 | | 22those proceedings are occurring. Documents used for any such meeting should be made available |
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| 53 | 53 | | 23 to the public before or at the time of the meeting of the public body. Where allowance for |
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| 54 | 54 | | 24active, real-time participation by members of the public is required by law, pursuant to which the |
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| 55 | 55 | | 25proceeding is conducted, any alternative means of public access shall provide for such |
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| 56 | 56 | | 26participation. A public body shall offer its selected alternative means of public access to virtual |
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| 57 | 57 | | 27meetings without subscription, toll or similar charge to the public. |
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| 58 | 58 | | 28 (5) A public body that elects to conduct its proceedings remotely shall ensure that any |
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| 59 | 59 | | 29party entitled or required to appear before it may do so through remote means, as if the party |
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| 60 | 60 | | 30were a member of the public body participating remotely. |
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| 61 | 61 | | 31 (6) This section shall not apply to any municipal body. |
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