S.B. No. 1640
AN ACT
relating to the open meetings law.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 551.001(2), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(2) "Deliberation" means a verbal or written exchange
[during a meeting] between a quorum of a governmental body, or
between a quorum of a governmental body and another person,
concerning an issue within the jurisdiction of the governmental
body [or any public business].
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 551.143, Government Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 551.143. PROHIBITED SERIES OF COMMUNICATIONS
[CONSPIRACY TO CIRCUMVENT CHAPTER]; OFFENSE; PENALTY.
SECTION 3. Section 551.143(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) A member [or group of members] of a governmental body
commits an offense if the member:
(1) [or group of members] knowingly engages in at
least one communication among a series of communications that each
occur outside of a meeting authorized by this chapter and that
concern an issue within the jurisdiction of the governmental body
in which the members engaging in the individual communications
constitute fewer than a quorum of members but the members engaging
in the series of communications constitute a quorum of members; and
(2) knew at the time the member engaged in the
communication that the series of communications:
(A) involved or would involve a quorum; and
(B) would constitute a deliberation once a quorum
of members engaged in the series of communications [conspires to
circumvent this chapter by meeting in numbers less than a quorum for
the purpose of secret deliberations in violation of this chapter].
SECTION 4. Section 551.143, Government Code, as amended by
this Act, applies only to an offense committed on or after the
effective date of this Act. An offense committed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense
was committed before the effective date of this Act if any element
of the offense occurred before that date.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1640 passed the Senate on
April 9, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 23, 2019, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1640 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 17, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 145,
Nays 1, one present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor