(1) The Commission shall have an Annual Meeting once a year in the host state; meet once a year by invitation by a member state of the Compact on a rotating basis; and shall also meet upon the call of the Chairman, by petition of a majority of the membership or upon the call of a host state member. The Annual Meeting shall include:(a) Review and approval of the Commission budget;(b) Review of the project budget;
(c) Election of Officers.
(2) All Annual, regular, special and emergency meetings of the Commission shall be arranged by the Secretary upon the call of the Chairman. Unless a majority of the Commission expressly waives such notice in writing, the Secretary shall notify the members in writing of the Annual Meeting at least thirty (30) days prior to the date of the meeting and for each regular and special meeting at least fourteen (14) days prior to the date of the meeting. In the event of the call of an emergency meeting, the Secretary shall notify each member by telecommunication and in writing as soon as is practicable after notification of the call of the emergency meeting by the Chairman, and unless the emergency is so urgent that the notice must be shorter, at least five (5) days' notice of such emergency meeting shall be given.
(3) Open Meetings-General Policy and Definition of "Meetings.”
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(a) Commission meetings are public meetings, except as may be otherwise allowed by these By-Laws.(b) Meetings, for the purposes of By-Law IV shall include all Annual, regular (meaning mid-year and quarterly meetings), special (meaning all other non-emergency meetings), and emergency meetings, formal or informal, of a quorum or more of the Commission members, held for the purposes of briefing, discussion of Commission business, formation of tentative policy, or the taking of any action of the Commission. In addition, committees of the Commission which have been given authority by the Commission to take formal action, hold hearings, or make poli˝ for the Commission shall be covered by these open meetings provisions.
(c) No Commissioner or Commission employee shall fail to invite a portion of the Commission to a meeting, and the Commission shall not designate itself a committee of the whole body for the purpose of circumventing these By-Laws. No closed session, informal meeting, chance meeting, social gathering, or telecommunication shall be used for the purpose of circumventing the requirements of these By-Laws on open meetings.
(d) The open meeting provisions of these By-Laws shall not apply to chance meetings or to attendance at or travel to conventions or workshops of
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members of the Commission at which there is no meeting of the Commission then intentionally convened and if no vote or other action is taken by the Commission at such place regarding any matter over which the Commission has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power.
(e) The Commission may further define, detail, and implement its meeting procedures through its Rules; but such Rules shall not be inconsistent with these By-Laws.
Table of Contents (4) Required Purposes and Examples of Reasons for Closed Sessions. The Commission may hold a closed session by the affirmative vote of a majority of its voting members only if a closed session is dearly necessary for the protection of the public interest or for the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual and such individual has not requested a public meeting. One or the other of those two purposes must be involved. Then, such more specific reasons as the following, but not limited to the following- are to be set forth in the motion to close a meeting as reasons for such closure.
(a) Strategy sessions, including assigning a range of negotiation parameters with respect to contracts; strategy sessions with respect to real estate or other purchases; receipt of attorneys' advice and counsel; consideration in the presence of counsel of litigation, pending or imminent, as evidenced by7
communication of a claim or threat of litigation to or by the Commission;
(b) Discussion regarding acquisition and deployment of security plans, personnel, or devices;
(c) Investigative proceedings regarding allegations of criminal misconduct; or
(d) Evaluation of job performance of Commission personnel or of applicants for positions, when necessary to prevent needless injury to the reputation of a person and if such person has not requested a public meeting.
Table of Contents (5) Procedures and Limitations Regarding Closed Sessions
(a) The vote to hold a closed session shall be taken in open session. The vote of each member on the question of holding a closed session, the general purpose and the specific reason for the closed session, and the time when the closed session commenced and concluded shall be recorded in the minutes. The Commission in holding such a closed session shall restrict its consideration of matters during the closed portions to those purposes set forth in the minutes as the reason or reasons for the closed session. The meeting shall be reconvened in open session before any formal action may be taken. For purposes of this By-Law, "formal action" shall mean a collective decision or a collective commitment or promise to make8
a decision on any question, motion, proposal, resolution, order, or formation of a position or policy but shall not include negotiation guidance given by members of the Commission to legal Counsel or other negotiators in closed session authorized under (4)(a) above of these By-Laws.
(b) Any member of the Commission shall have the right to challenge the continuation of a closed session if the member determines that the session has exceeded the reasons stated in the original motion to hold a closed session or if the member contends that the closed session is not clearly necessary for the stated required purpose regarding protection of the public interest or a persons' reputation. Such challenge shall be overruled only by a majority vote of the voting members of the Commission or of the committee holding the closed session. Such challenge and its disposition shall be recorded in the minutes.
Table of Contents (6) Notice of Meetings and Subjects to be Discussed.
(a) The Commission shall give reasonable advance publicized notice of the time, place, and known list of subjects of each meeting. Such notice shall be transmitted to the members of the Commission and to the public in the manner set forth herein and in the Rules of the Commission which may provide additional detail but shall not be9
inconsistent with these By-Laws. Such notice shall contain, at a minimum, a list of the meeting subjects known at the time of the publicized notice and a statement that the formal agenda, which shall be kept continually current, shall be readily available for public inspection at the principal office of the Commission during normal business hours. Except for items of an emergency nature, the agenda shall not be altered later than seven (7) days before the scheduled commencement of a meeting; and where practicable, notice of any such amendments shall be communicated to the commissioners and the list of persons requesting notices, as set forth in the next paragraph. The Commission shall have the right to modify the agenda at the actual meeting only in emergency circumstances.
(b) The Secretary or other designed of the Commission shall maintain a list of the news media and of other organizations and their representatives requesting notification of meetings and shall make reasonable efforts to provide advance notification to them of the time and place of each meeting and the subjects to be discussed at the meeting.
(c) When it is necessary to hold an emergency meeting, the nature of the emergency shall be stated in the minutes; and any formal action taken in such meeting shall pertain only to the emergency.
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Emergency meetings in general shall be called by the Chairman with not less than five (5) days notice, unless the emergency is so urgent that five days' notice cannot practicably be given; and in such case, notice shall be given as much in advance of the emergency meeting as is practicable. In any case of an emergency meeting, complete minutes specifying the nature of the emergency and of any formal action taken at the meting shall be made -available to the public at the principal office of the Commission no later than the end of the next regular business day.
Table of Contents (7) Public Participation Meetings of the Commission
(a) The Commission may in its discretion allow a member of the public or a witness to appear before the public body by means of video, telecommunications equipment, or by written submission.(b) The public shall have the right to attend and the right to speak at meetings of the Commission, subject to the provisions in this subsection (7); and all or any part of a meeting of the Commission except for closed sessions may be videotaped, televised photographed, broadcast, or recorded by any person in attendance by means of a tape recorder, camera, video equipment, or any other means of pictorial or sonic reproduction or in
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writing, so long as such activity does not disrupt the meeting.
(c) It shall not be a violation of this subsection (7) for the commission to make and enforce reasonable rules or regulations regarding the conduct of persons attending, speaking at, videotaping, televising, photographing, broadcasting, or recording its meetings; and the Commission may at any time take reasonable precautions in respect to security at any meeting. The Commission is not required to allow citizens to speak at each meeting, nor is it required to permit public input prior to each action taken at each meeting; but it may not forbid public participation at all meetings.
(d) The Commission will not require members of the public to identify themselves as a condition for admission to the meeting. The Commission will require any member of the public desiring to address the Commission to identify himself or herself.
(e) The Commission will not, for the purpose of circumventing these By-Laws, hold a meeting in a place intended by the Commission to be too small to accommodate an anticipated audience. The Commission will not be. deemed in violation of this section, however, if it holds a meeting in its
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traditional meeting place located in the host state or party states.
(f) The Commission will make a reasonable effort to accommodate the public1s right to hear the discussion and testimony presented at an open meeting.
(g) the Commission will make available at the open meeting, for examination and copying at cost by members of the public, at least one copy of all reproducible written material expected to be discussed at the open meeting.
(h) During all Annual, regular, and special meetings opportunity shall be given for public comments for one (1) hour before the Commission conducts its business. An opportunity may also be given for public comment prior to action on agenda items. The public comment period may be increased or consolidated into a single comment period or consolidated into a single comment period at the discretion of the Chairman.
(i) The Commission may, with or without the presence of a quorum of the commissioners, hold a public comment proceeding for the purpose of soliciting public comments on a particular topic or document. Thirty (30) days' notice is required for this proceeding. The entirety of Public Comment Proceedings shall be open to the public, and no
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closed session shall be permitted at such proceedings. Except as stated in this paragraph, no other provisions of the open meetings By-Laws shall be applicable.
(j) The Commission, with the concurrence of the affected member state, may hold Public Information Meetings in any state of the compact. These meetings are held to provide the public with information on the Commission and issues associated with its functions. Such meetings shall be entirely open, with no closed session involved; and may be held with or without a quorum of the commissioners present. No business shall be perf6rmed at such Public Information Meetings themselves, other than providing the public with information.
Table of Contents (a) The Commission will keep minutes of all meetings showing the time, place, members present and absent and the substance of matters discussed. When meetings are recorded, transcripts of those records shall be prepared by the Commission and copies made available to the public within a reasonable time for the reasonable cost of photocopying.(b) Any action taken on any question or motion duly moved and seconded shall be by roll call vote of the
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Commission in open session, and the record shall state how each commissioner voted or that the commissioner was absent or not voting; provided, however, that the vote to elect leadership within the Commission may be taken by secret ballot; but the total number of votes for each candidate shall be recorded in the minutes.
(c) The minutes of all meetings and evidence and documentation received or disclosed in open session shall be public records and open to public inspection during normal business hours.
(d) Minutes of all meetings, once approved by the Secretary in their draft form, shall be available for inspection within ten (10) working days of each meeting other than an emergency meeting. Minutes of prior meetings may be formally corrected, revised, and approved at a subsequent meeting.
(9) Corrective Procedures and Remedies Regarding Open Meetings.
(a) Any person or party state contending that any action of the Commission is inconsistent with or violates the open meeting provisions of these ByLaws shall notify the Commission, in writing, of the perceived inconsistency or violation within fifteen (15) days of the meeting or action which forms the basis for the complaint. Such notification15
must specify the facts claimed to establish the violation. Upon receipt of such a complaint, the Commission shall review and respond to the complaint within thirty (30) days; and if it finds that these By-Laws have been violated with respect to the open meetings provisions1 it may thereafter correct and cure the results of any such violation by holding a new meeting or by taking any other action consistent with these By-Laws.
(b) If as of thirty (30) days after rec9ipt of the complaint the Commission declines or omits to initiate corrective action, or if the complaining party contends that the action by the Commission does not fully correct the perceived violation of these By-Laws, the complaintant [sic]may seek relief in accordance with Article IV(O) of the Compact. For purposes of Article IV(O) of the Compact no action of the Commission shall be deemed to be a decision of the Commission regarding public meetings until the complaint and corrective process set out in this subsection has been exhausted.
(F) Officers of the Commission.
(1) At its regular annual meeting the Commission shall elect from among its member states a Chairman.(2) The term of office of each elected officer shall be one year and until the election and qualification of a successor. An elected officer of the Commission shall be limited to two
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