Open meetings notice requirements

Open meetings notice requirements are the legal time frames governments must follow in announcing dates and times for open meetings to citizens.

Noteworthy requirements

• In Mississippi, changes to meetings must be posted one hour after the changes take place.
• California has two open meeting laws.
• Pennsylvania: an agency must give three days’ notice of its first regular meeting of the year, and notice of the schedule of its remaining regular meetings in time to allow it to be published or circulated before the date of the meetings.
• Vermont only makes note of procedures for interrupted meetings.

List of requirements by timeframe

24 hours notice

• Arizona
• Georgia
• Iowa
• Louisiana
• Missouri
• New Hampshire
• New Mexico
• South Dakota
• Utah
• Wisconsin

48 hours notice

• District of Columbia
• Indiana
• Massachusetts

72 hours notice

• California
• Nevada
• Texas
• Virginia

1 week notice

• Alabama
• California (10 days)
• Delaware
• Hawaii (6 days)
• New York
• West Virginia (5 days)

Beginning of the year

• Connecticut
• Illinois
• Michigan
• Oklahoma
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina

Reasonable” notice

• Alaska
• Colorado
• Florida
• Maine
• Maryland
• Nebraska
• New Jersey
• North Dakota
• Oregon

No requirements

• Arkansas
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Minnesota
• Montana
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Tennessee
• Washington
• Wyoming

Open meetings notice requirements across the country

State	Notice requirement
Alabama Open Meetings Act	At least seven calendar days prior to the meeting.
Alaska Open Meetings Act	The OMA simply requires "reasonable notice" for all meetings.
Arizona Open Meetings Act	Other than an actual emergency, the notice of a meeting must be posted at least 24 hours in advance.
Arkansas Open Meetings Law	The FOIA does not establish a time requirement for notice of regular meetings.
California Open Meeting Act	Local legislative bodies: The legislative body of a local agency must post an agenda and mail a copy of the agenda or the agenda packet to anyone who has requested it at least 72 hours before a regular meeting or upon distribution to all, or a majority of all, of the members of a legislative body, whichever occurs first. ; Public bodies:At least 10 days before the regular meeting, the state body shall provide notice of its meeting to anyone who requests it in writing, and shall also give notice on the Internet.
Colorado Sunshine Law for open meetings	Sunshine Law: "Full and timely" notice.
Connecticut Open Meetings Law	Public bodies must file meeting dates at the beginning of the year by January 31.
Delaware Open Meetings Law	Notice of a meeting must be given at least seven days in advance. 29 Del. C. § 10004(e)(2)
District of Columbia	The Open Meetings Act requires a public body to provide notice “as early as possible, but not less than 48 hours or 2 business days, whichever is greater, before a meeting.”
Florida Open Meetings Law	The courts have long interpreted the statute to mandate reasonsable notice as a practical matter.
Georgia Open Meetings Act	Unless "special circumstances" are declared by the agency, any meeting not held in accordance with the regular schedule requires at least 24 hours notice.
Hawaii Sunshine Law	Notice must be given six calendar days in advance of a meeting.
Idaho Open Meeting Law
Illinois Open Meetings Act	At the beginning of each calendar or fiscal year, public bodies must prepare and make available schedules of all of their regular meetings for that calendar or fiscal year, listing times and places for the meetings. 48 hours notice for emergency meetings.
Indiana Open Door Law	For non-emergency meetings, at least 48 hours' notice (not including Saturdays, Sundays or legal holidays) prior to the meeting is required.
Iowa Open Meetings Law	24 hours
Kansas Open Meetings Act	The law does not set a time limit.
Kentucky Open Meetings Act	The law does not set a time limit.
Louisiana Open Meeting Law	No later than 24 hours before the meeting and at the beginning of each calendar year if regular meetings are established by law, resolution, or ordinance. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 42:7(A)(l).
Maine Open Meeting Law	The notice must be given in ample time to allow public attendance.
Maryland Open Meetings Act	Before meeting in open or closed session, the public body must give reasonable advance notice.
Massachusetts Open Meetings Act	Except in an emergency, notice of a meeting must be provided 48 hours in advance of the meeting, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. G.L. c. 30A, § 20(b)
Michigan Open Meetings Act	For regular meetings, a public body must post within ten days after the first meeting in each calendar or fiscal year a public notice stating the dates, times, and places of its regular meetings. Mich. Comp. Laws Ann. § 15.265(2).
Minnesota Open Meeting Law	No time limit is set.
Mississippi Open Meetings Act	Any recess meeting, adjourned meeting, interim meeting or any called special meeting shall be posted within one (1) hour after such meeting is called.
Missouri Sunshine Law for open meetings	Notice must be given at least twenty-four hours prior to the commencement of any meeting of a governmental body unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case as much notice as is reasonably possible must be given. Mo.Rev.Stat. § 610.020.2.
Montana Open Meetings Law	No specific time limit for giving notice, except that County commissioners must give 48-hour notice before changing the time, manner, place or date of a regular meeting, or hold a special meeting. § 7-5-2122
Nebraska Open Meetings Act	Public Meetings Law requires only that "reasonable advance . . . notice" be given.
Nevada Open Meeting Law	Written notice of meetings must be given three working days in advance. N.R.S. 241.020(2).
New Hampshire Open Meetings Law	At least 24 hours, unless an emergency meeting is held.
New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act	A schedule of regular public meetings must be adopted by each public body within seven days following its annual reorganization meeting or, if no reorganization meeting is held, then by January 10 of each year.
New Mexico Open Meetings Act	24 hours prior to the meeting
New York Open Meetings Law	Public notice of the time and place of a meeting scheduled at least one week prior thereto shall be given to the news media and shall be conspicuously posted in one or more designated public locations at least seventy-two hours before such meeting.
North Carolina Open Meetings Law	Public bodies must establish a schedule of regular meetings and make that schedule public. Otherwise, there is no requirement of notice of each meeting.
North Dakota Open Meetings Statute	If the governing body holds regularly scheduled meetings, the schedule of the meetings, including the notice information, if available, must be filed annually in January.
Ohio Open Meetings Law	There is no time limit in the statute for giving notice of regular meetings.
Oklahoma Open Meetings Act	All public bodies must give written notice by December 15th of the schedule showing the date, time and place of all regularly scheduled meetings of the public body for the next calendar year. 25 O.S. § 311.1.
Oregon Public Meetings Law	Under ORS 192.640(1) there is no specified time limit but notice must be "reasonably calculated" to give actual notice to interested persons.
Pennsylvania Sunshine Act	An agency must give three days notice of its first regular meeting of the year, and notice of the schedule of its remaining regular meetings in time to allow it to be published or circulated before the date of the meetings.
Rhode Island Open Meetings Act	Written notice of the dates, times and places of regularly scheduled meetings must be given at the beginning of the calendar year. R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-6(a).
South Carolina Open Meetings Law	For regular meetings written public notice must be given at the beginning of each calendar year. For special, called or rescheduled meetings notice must be given as soon as is practicable but at least 24 hours in advance except for emergency meetings.
South Dakota Open Meetings Law	At least 24 hours prior to meeting. S.D.C.L. § 1-25-1.1.
Tennessee Open Meetings Law	There is no specified time limit for notice.
Texas Open Meetings Act	"The notice of a meeting of a governmental body must be posted in a place readily accessible to the general public at all times for at least 72 hours before the scheduled time of the meeting, except as provided by sections 551.044-551.046." § 551.043(a).
Utah Open and Public Meetings Act	A public body must give “not less than 24 hours public notice” of the agenda, date, time, and place of each of its meetings. Utah Code Ann. § 52-4-202(1).
Vermont Open Meetings Law	If a meeting or proceeding is to be adjourned or continued, then it is sufficient notice if the "time and place" of the next meeting is publicly announced before adjournment.
Virginia Open Meetings Law	At least three working days prior to the meeting. Va. Code Ann. § 2.2-3707(C).
Washington Open Public Meetings Act	OPMA does not specify any time limit for giving notice of a regular meeting.
West Virginia Open Governmental Proceedings Act	The Open Meetings Act requires that, except in emergencies, state executive agencies must give notice of their meetings "at least five days prior to the date of the meeting"
Wisconsin Open Meetings Law	"Public notice of every meeting of a governmental body shall be given at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of such meeting unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case shorter notice may be given, but in no case may the notice be provided less than 2 hours in advance of the meeting." Wis. Stat. § 19.84(3).
Wyoming Public Meetings Act	None in Public Meetings Law.

See also

• Freedom of Information Act