SGA violates Open Meeting Act

The Student Government Association violated the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act on Nov. 2 when it passed two pieces of legislation that were not on its agenda.

The Open Meeting Act states, "all public bodies shall, at least 24 hours prior to such meetings, display public notice of said meeting, setting forth thereon the date, time, place and agenda for said meeting."

The penalty for violating the Open Meeting Act is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 dollars and/or up to one year in county jail.

The first item not on the agenda was a resolution condemning the actions of the Westwood Neighborhood Association. The second item was a bill allocating $1,800 dollars to use for Bedlam Week activities.

SGA has an operating budget of more that $1 million for each school year, SGA President Ashley Leonard said at the start of the semester.

This is the fifth reported occurrence in the past nine years of the SGA violating the Open Meeting Act.

SGA Senate Chair Justin Wheeler said the resolution did not make it on the senate agenda because he was unaware it would be passed in the Student Commission Alliance Committee. Wheeler said he did not look at the SCAC agenda before writing the senate agenda.

Wheeler said it was a circumstance where the SCAC committee met on the same day as senate when it was not originally thought the committee would get to meet.

SGA Parliamentarian Stephen Rogers said the bill was not on the agenda because the activities the bill funded were new, and not enough details were known when the budget committee had its last meeting.

"It was figured out, and we knew figures at a period of time when the budget committee hadn't met, and the body of the whole was meeting," Rogers said.

The resolution was passed as a special order. The bill was passed through a committee of the whole and then passed by the senate. This is parliamentary procedure under Robert's Rules of Order.

However, the Open Meeting Act makes no mention of Robert's Rules of Order, special orders or committees of the whole.

SGA leaders said that the legislation would fall under the exemption of new business under the law.

New business is "any matter not known about or which could not have been reasonably foreseen prior to the time of posting," according to the Open Meeting Act.

"I would argue that it was not reasonably foreseen because of the way the process works," Rogers said.

The Stillwater City Council passed the Westwood overlay in June. The Bedlam week activities were a new item this semester but were created before the meeting.  According to senate meeting minutes, SGA Vice President Kyle Buthod talked about coordinating Bedlam Week on Oct. 5.

Freedom of Information Oklahoma, Inc. President Bryan Dean said the legislation passed would not meet the definition of new business. FOI Oklahoma is an organization founded to educate the public and officials about openness in government.

Dean said if a matter is not something that happened within the 24-hour window between when the agenda was posted and when the meeting was held, a public body can't act on it as new business.

"If you are responding to something that happened in June, that's not going to work," Dean said. "Whether or not this committee met or it didn't meet, the law is pretty clear on what new business is, and it doesn't say just for your planning purposes or just because you didn't plan two days ahead."

Dean said the law allows for other avenues to pass legislation without violating the law by not placing items on the agenda. If there is a scheduling problem, the senate can hold a special meeting where notice would only have to be given 48 hours in advance.

"If you want to follow the law, that's probably what you're supposed to do," Dean said.

Dean also said the bill providing funding for Bedlam Week would also not qualify under the definition of new business.

"You knew that the issue of funding that project was going to come up eventually, so that's not a new matter," Dean said. "Unless you can show it's some sort of emergency that has to be done now, there's just no reason not to go ahead and do the right thing and have a special meeting or just hold off until your next meeting."

But Rogers argues both issues would qualify as new business.

"When I looked at the Open Meeting Act, I felt I was reasonably protected by that exemption," Rogers said. "Until I see case law that shows how restricted it is, I'm going to continue on the prima facie (on its face) interpretation that the law does provide."

Joey Senat, associate professor of media law at OSU, said that is not a valid defense.

"That's nonsense," Senat said. "If they are really saying that it is going to take a court and a criminal prosecution, then they are begging to be prosecuted. Because what they are telling everyone is that they are going to continue to violate the law as long as they can get away with it."