Req. No. 666 Page 1 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 59th Legislature (2023)
SENATE BILL 644 By: Prieto
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to public participation at pu blic
meetings; amending 25 O.S. 2021, S ection 311, which
relates to notice of meetings of pu blic bodies;
clarifying right of members of the public to exercise
First Amendment rights at public meetings; allowing
certain time limitations; prohibiting law enforcement
officers or entities from t aking certain actions;
amending 70 O.S. 2021, Section 5-118, which relates
to meetings of school boards; clarifying right of
members of the public to exercise First Amendment
rights at public meetings; allowing certain time
limitations; prohibiting law enforcement officers or
entities from taking certain actions; updating
statutory references; and providing an effective
date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 25 O.S. 2021, Section 311, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 311. A. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law,
all regularly scheduled, continued or reconvened, special or
emergency meetings of public bodies shall be preceded by pub lic
notice as follows:
1. All public bodies shall give notice in writing by December
15 of each calendar year of the schedule showing the date, time and
Req. No. 666 Page 2 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
place of the regularly scheduled meetings of such public bodies for
the following calendar year;
2. All state public bodies including, but not limited to,
public trusts and other bodies with th e state as beneficiary, shall
give such notice to the Secretary of State;
3. All county public bodies including, but not limited to,
public trusts and any other bo dies with the county as beneficiary,
shall give such notice to the county clerk of the count y wherein
they are principally located;
4. All municipal public bodies including, but not limited to,
public trusts and any other bodies with the municipality as
beneficiary, shall give such notice to the municipal clerk of the
municipality wherein they a re principally located;
5. All multicounty, re gional, areawide or district public
bodies including, but not limited to, district boards of education,
shall give such notice to the county clerk of the coun ty wherein
they are principally located, or if no o ffice exists, to the county
clerk of the county or counties served by such public body;
6. All governing boards of state institutions of higher
education, and committees and subcommittees thereof, shall g ive such
notice to the Secretary of State. All oth er public bodies covered
by the provisions of t he Oklahoma Open Meeting Act which exist under
the auspices of a state institution of higher education, but a
majority of whose members are not members of the institution’s
Req. No. 666 Page 3 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
governing board, shall give such not ice to the county clerk of the
county wherein the institution is principally located;
7. The Secretary of State and each county clerk or municipal
clerk shall keep a record of all notices received in a re gister open
to the public for inspection during reg ular office hours, and, in
addition, shall make known upon any request of any person the
contents of the register;
8. If any change is to be made of the date, time or place of
regularly scheduled meetings of public bodies, then notice in
writing shall be given to the Secretary of State or county clerk or
municipal clerk, as required herein, not less than ten (10) days
prior to the implementation of any such change;
9. In addition to the advance public not ice in writing required
to be filed for regularly s cheduled meetings, described in paragraph
1 of this subsection, all public bodies shall, at least twenty -four
(24) hours prior to such regularly scheduled meetings, display
public notice of the meeting by at least one of the following
methods:
a. by posting information that includes date, time, place
and agenda for the meeting in prominent public view at
the principal office of the public body or at the
location of the meeting if no office exists, or
b. by posting on the public body’s Internet website the
date, time, place and agenda for the meeting in
Req. No. 666 Page 4 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
accordance with Section 3106.2 of Title 74 of the
Oklahoma Statutes. Additionally, the public body
shall offer and consistently maintain an email
distribution system for distribution of such notice of
a public meeting required by this subsection, and any
person may request to be included without charge, and
their request shall be accepted. The emailed notice
of a public meeting required by this subsection sha ll
include in the body of the email or as an attach ment
to the email the date, time, place and age nda for the
meeting and it shall be sent no less than twenty -four
(24) hours prior to the meeting. Additionally, exc ept
as provided in subparagraph c of this paragraph, the
public body shall make the notice o f a public meeting
required by this subsection available to the public in
the principal office of the public body or at the
location of the meeting during normal bu siness hours
at least twenty–four (24) hours prior to the meeting,
or
c. upon the effective date of this act March 18, 2020,
and until February 15, 2022, o r until thirty (30) days
after the expiration or termination of the state of
emergency declared by th e Governor to respond to the
threat of COVID-19 to the people of th is state and the
Req. No. 666 Page 5 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
public’s peace, health and safety, whichever date
first occurs, the pub lic body shall not be required to
make the notice of a public meeting available to the
public in the principal office of the public body or
at the location of the meeti ng during normal business
hours at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the
meeting;
10. The twenty-four (24) hours required in paragraph 9 of this
subsection shall exclude Saturdays, Sun days and holidays legally
declared by the State of Oklahoma. The p osting or distribution of a
notice of a public meeting as described in paragraph 9 of th is
subsection shall not preclude a public body from considering at its
regularly scheduled meeting an y new business. “New business”, as
used herein, shall mean any mat ter not known about or which could
not have been reasonably foreseen prior to the time o f the posting;
11. In the event any meeting is to be continued or reconvened,
public notice of such action including date, time and place of the
continued meeting, sha ll be given by announcement at the original
meeting. Only matters appearing on the agen da of the meeting which
is continued may be discussed at the continued or reconvened
meeting;
12. Special meetings of public bodies shall not be held without
public notice being given at least forty-eight (48) hours prior to
the meetings. Such public not ice of date, time and place shall be
Req. No. 666 Page 6 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
given in writing, in person or by telephonic means to the Secret ary
of State or to the county clerk or to the municipal clerk by pu blic
bodies in the manner set forth in paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of
this subsection. The public body also shall cause written notice of
the date, time and place of the meeting to be mail ed or delivered to
each person, newspaper , wire service, radio stat ion and television
station that has filed a written request for notice of meetings of
the public body with the clerk or secretary of the public body or
with some other person designated by the public body. Such written
notice shall be mailed or delivered at least forty-eight (48) hours
prior to the special meeting. The public body may charg e a fee of
up to Eighteen Dollars ($18.00) per year to persons or entities
filing a written request f or notice of meetings, and may require
such persons or entities to renew the request for notice annually.
In addition, all public bodies shall, at least t wenty-four (24)
hours prior to such special meetings, display public notice of the
meeting, setting forth thereon the date, time, place and ag enda for
the meeting. Only matters appearing on the posted agenda may be
considered at the special meeting. Such public notice shall be
posted in prominent public view at the principal office of the
public body or at the location of the meeting if no off ice exists.
Twenty-four (24) hours prior public posting shall exclude Saturdays,
Sundays and holidays legally dec lared by the State of Oklahoma. In
lieu of the public posting requirements of this paragraph, a publ ic
Req. No. 666 Page 7 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
body may elect to follow the requireme nts found in subparagraph b of
paragraph 9 of this subsection, provided that forty-eight-hour
notice is required f or special meetings and that the forty -eight-
hour requirement shall exclude Saturdays, Sundays and ho lidays
legally declared by the State of O klahoma;
13. In the event of an emergency, an emergency meeting of a
public body may be held without the public n otice heretofore
required. Should an emergency meeting of a public body be
necessary, the person cal ling such a meeting shall give as much
advance public notice as is reasonable and possible under the
circumstances existing, in person or by telephonic or electronic
means; and
14. A public body that gives public notice of a meeting for
which there will be a videoconference option in accordance with
Section 307.1 of thi s title shall not modify the method of meeting
described in the notice prior to the meeti ng and shall conduct the
meeting according to the methods described in the notice. If a code
or password is required to access the videoconfe rence meeting, the
code or password shall be included in the public notice.
B. 1. All agendas required pursuant to the provisions of this
section shall identify all items of business to be transacted by a
public body at a meeting including, but not limit ed to, any proposed
executive session for the purpose of engaging in deliberations or
Req. No. 666 Page 8 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
rendering a final or interme diate decision in an individual
proceeding prescribed by the Administrative Procedures Act.
2. If a public body proposes to conduct an execut ive session,
the agenda shall:
a. contain sufficient information for the public to
ascertain that an executive ses sion will be proposed,
b. identify the items of business and purposes of the
executive session, and
c. state specifically the provision of Sec tion 307 of
this title authorizing the executive session.
3. Any interested member of the public may address a public
body on any agenda item or item of new business in the time
designated for public comment at a m eeting of the public body ,
subject to reasonable time limitations. A member of the public m ay
exercise all rights of free speech and assembly granted pursuant to
the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States to
address the public bod y. No law enforcement officer or entity may
prevent a member of the public from exercising such rights in a
lawful manner at a meeting of the public bo dy, nor may a law
enforcement officer or entity use harassment, intimidation, or
threatened prosecution to prevent a member of the public from
exercising such rights.
SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 70 O.S. 2021, Section 5 -118, is
amended to read as follows:
Req. No. 666 Page 9 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Section 5-118. Regular meetings of the board of education of
each school district shall be held upon the first Monday of each
month, or upon such day as may be fixed by the board. Sp ecial
meetings may be held from time to time as circum stances may demand.
All meetings of the boards of education shall be public
meetings, and in all such meetings the vote of each member must be
publicly cast and recorded. Executive sessions will be per mitted
only for the purpose of discussing the employme nt, hiring,
appointment, promotion, demotion, dis ciplining, or resignations of
any or all of the employees or volunteers of the school district,
and for the purpose of discussing negotiations concerning employees
and representatives of employee groups, and for the purpose of
hearing evidence and discussi ng the expulsion or suspension of a
student or students only when requested by the student involv ed or
his or her parent, attorney, or legal guardian; pr ovided, however,
that any vote or action thereon must be taken in a public meeting
with the vote of eac h member publicly cast and recorded. It is
required that the board of education shall provide no tice to the
student, his or her parent, attorney or lega l guardian that said
student is entitled to an executi ve session regarding the discussion
of expulsion or suspension of said student.
Any interested member of the p ublic may address a school board
on any agenda item or item of new business in the time designated
for public comment at a meeting of the school board, subject to
Req. No. 666 Page 10 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
reasonable time limitations. A member of the public may ex ercise
all rights of free speech and assembly granted pursuant to the First
Amendment of the Constitution of the United States to address the
school board. No law enforcement officer or entity may prevent a
member of the public from exercising such rights in a law ful manner
at a meeting of the school board, nor may a law enforcement officer
or entity use harassment, intimidation, or threatened prosecution to
prevent a member of the public from exercising such ri ghts.
Any action taken in violation of the provisions of this act
Section 5-101 et seq. of this title shall be invalid.
Each member of the board of education of a school d istrict with
an average daily attendance exceeding fifteen thousand (15,000) or a
school district where boundaries encompass a tot al population
exceeding one hundred thousand (100,000) persons according to the
last preceding Federal Decennial Census may be paid from the
district’s general fund a stipend of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00)
for each regular, special or adjourned meeting of the board of
education that he or she attends, but not for more than four
meetings in any calendar month.
SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2023.
59-1-666 TEK 1/18/2023 9:59:21 AM