This little light of mine needs to shine

This week is National Sunshine Week.

The week, to be clear, has nothing to do with the weather.

It’s a week to recognize the laws that allow citizens to know what local, state and federal governments are doing.

National Sunshine Week is, in fact, a week but it’s something that serious journalists take seriously 52 weeks of the year.

All the individual United States and the federal government have open meeting laws, referred to as “sunshine laws,” mandating that certain meetings are open to the public.

In 2015 then Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley signed a bill into law which adds teeth to the Alabama Open Meetings Act of 2005, an act that requires city councils, county commissions and school boards, among other governmental agencies, to notify the public of their meetings and to conduct their meetings in public. In short, it clarifies the original intent of the act.

The public has the right to know how its money is being spent. We might not agree with the decisions made but, as citizens, we do have the right to hear the reasoning and discussion that went in to making them. It is called transparency. And transparency in government transcends political parties. 

Journalists try to keep an unjaundiced eye on government and sometimes, frankly, wonder why. I can tell you many stories of times I have listened as a person slams “the media” only to awkwardly add the words “I mean, national” when they realize that “the media” is in the house. 

Clearly, most governing bodies that this newspaper covers in a two-county area are cognizant of their responsibility as public servants. Most governing bodies that this newspaper covers in a two-county area also have working sessions where agenda items are hashed out, mulled over, discussed and argued about.

No votes can be taken in a working session but those working sessions are open to the public, as are the more formal business sessions that follow.

What is the definition of a meeting? A meeting is defined as any “congregation by a majority” of a legislative body at the same time and place to “hear, discuss, or deliberate” on any matter within the jurisdiction of the body.

The law states that meetings in small groups—defined as two or more people but not enough for a full quorum—without proper notice to discuss issues that will come before the full body are against the law.

Those small group meetings are sometimes called “serial meetings” and are said to have occurred when communication to “develop a collective concurrence as to action” is conducted either in person, by telephone, fax, email or “go-betweens.” 

Serial meetings are said to have occurred when members of a board or committee meet in small groups to discuss issues that later come before the full board or committee for an official vote. The new law applies to committees and subcommittees of public boards, as well as full boards.

The new law acknowledges that under specifically named circumstances, boards can go into closed meetings, also known as executive sessions. Boards can—and do—close their meetings to the public to discuss the “good name and character” of an employee or pending litigation or real estate matters with their attorney, to name a few of the allowable reasons.

“Transparency promotes government accountability, and as elected officials, we are held to a higher standard for our decisions,” the governor said as he signed the bill into law. “It is important that our state’s open meetings law allows the public to see and be involved in government decisions.”

Having strong Sunshine Laws is not to say that serial meetings won’t ever occur. It just means that if they do occur, they are in violation of the law.

Citizens should understand that access to city, county and school board meetings is not just a media right.  It is your right as a citizen.

It’s up to all of us to keep the sun shining on governing bodies all year.

Michelle Mann is a staff writer for The Southeast Sun and Daleville Sun-Courier. The opinions of this writer are her own and not the opinion of the paper. She can be reached at (334) 393-2969 or by email at [email protected].