Article I, sec.24 of the Florida Constitution requires that all meetings of the Florida Legislature be open and noticed. In addition, sec. 286.011(1), Florida Statutes provides that all meetings of any board or commission of any state agency at which official acts are to be taken are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times. Consequently, meetings of the UCF Board of Trustees and all committees of the Board of Trustees must be noticed and open to the public. Questions occasionally arise regarding the meetings of student government and its various divisions (legislative body, executive, etc). There is no specific exemption in the law regarding student government, but Florida’s open meetings law applies only to boards or commissions of a state agency (or, not applicable here, a county or municipal board or commissions). Certain committees of student government may be subject to the Sunshine Law, depending on their function. For example, the Activity & Service Fee Committee performs a function derived from authority of the Board of Trustees in spending activity and service fees.
Section 286.011(1) states that for all public meetings subject to the law “reasonable notice” must be provided. The statute does not define “reasonable notice”, but the Attorney General of Florida has provided the following guidelines, with which this office concurs:
- The notice of any of these meetings should contain the time and place of the meeting and, if available, an agenda (or, if no agenda is available, subject matter summations should be provided);
- The notice of any of these meetings should be prominently displayed in an area set aside for that purpose. In this case, notice should at a minimum be posted on websites dedicated to the entity that is meeting.
- The public should have at least 24 hours prior written notice of any of these meetings.
- The notice of any of these meetings must include the advice that if a person decides to appeal any decision taken at the meeting, he or she will need a record of the proceedings, and that, for such purpose, he or she may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, Section 286.0105 F.S. In this case, any of these meetings should be tape recorded or otherwise recorded in verbatim.
In addition, open meetings must occur at a time and place that does not unreasonably restrict public access to those meetings. Although section 286.011 does not define what constitutes reasonable public access, it is the opinion of the university’s general counsel that meetings that begin or continue past 11 p.m. would not provide reasonable access for many members of the public who might wish to attend. Accordingly, if an open meeting meeting cannot be concluded by 11 p.m., the meeting should be adjourned and reconvened, after appropriate public notice, as soon as is feasible.
Employees with questions regarding the applicability of and compliance with the open meetings law should contact the Office of the General Counsel.