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Alaska Statutes.

Title 24. Legislature

Chapter 60. Standards of Conduct

Section 37. Open Meetings Guidelines.

AS 24.60.037. Open Meetings Guidelines.

(a) A meeting of a legislative body is open to the public in accordance with the open meetings guidelines established in this section. A legislator may not participate in a meeting held in violation of these open meetings guidelines.

(b) For purposes of the legislative open meetings guidelines, a meeting occurs when a majority of the members of a legislative body is present and action, including voting, is taken or could be taken, or if a primary purpose of the meeting is the discussion of legislation or state policy. The Uniform Rules of the Alaska State Legislature control the procedure for conducting open and executive sessions of a legislative body.

(c) Legislators may meet in a closed caucus or in a private, informal meeting to discuss and deliberate on political strategy. Those meetings are exempt from the legislative open meetings guidelines. For purposes of this subsection, "political strategy" includes organization of the houses, assignment of committee membership, scheduling of bills, vehicles for adoptions, house-senate relations, other procedural matters, caucus operations, meetings between majority and minority caucus leaders, meetings between majority and minority caucus leaders of both houses, meetings with the governor, deliberations with regard to political strategy, and discussions of issues in the context of political strategy.

(d) Notwithstanding AS 24.60.130 (h) and (n), if a complaint alleges a violation of this section by a group of legislators that includes a legislative member of the committee and that member's alternate, the member and alternate member are disqualified from serving on the committee with regard to the complaint. If the disqualified members are part of the majority caucus, the presiding officer of the house in which the disqualified members serve shall appoint another member of that house to serve on the committee with regard to the complaint. Otherwise, the minority caucus leader shall appoint the member. If a complaint alleges a violation that includes all legislative members of the majority caucus of one house, the presiding officer of that house shall appoint from the other house a member to serve with regard to the complaint. Otherwise, the minority caucus leader shall appoint from the other house the member.

(e) In cases where there are conflicts between these guidelines and the uniform rules adopted by the Alaska State Legislature, the uniform rules prevail.

(f) The legislative open meetings guidelines are the guidelines that shall be used by the committee when considering complaints filed regarding open meetings.

(g) In the legislative open meetings guidelines,

(1) "caucus" means a group of legislators who share a political philosophy, or have a common goal, and who organize as a group;

(2) "legislative body"

(A) includes

(i) the senate;

(ii) the house of representatives;

(iii) the senate and the house of representatives meeting in joint session;

(iv) a committee of the legislature, other than the Committee on Committees, but including a standing committee, special committee, joint committee, conference or free conference committee, committee of the whole, and permanent interim committee;

(v) a legislative commission, task force, or other group established by statute or resolution; or

(vi) a caucus of members of one or more of the bodies set out in (i) - (v) of this subparagraph;

(B) does not include

(i) any committee or group of legislators considering only matters involving the organization of a committee or a house of the legislature, including selection of legislative officers;

(ii) any committee or group of legislators and the governor or staff of the Office of the Governor;

(iii) legislative leadership meetings;

(iv) officers of a caucus;

(3) "meeting" does not include

(A) a gathering of members of a legislative body for primarily ministerial or social purposes; or

(B) forums where members of a legislative body have been invited to address a group on legislative issues or concerns.

Note to HTML Version:

This version of the Alaska Statutes is current through December, 2004. The Alaska Statutes were automatically converted to HTML from a plain text format. Every effort has been made to ensure their accuracy, but this can not be guaranteed. If it is critical that the precise terms of the Alaska Statutes be known, it is recommended that more formal sources be consulted. For statutes adopted after the effective date of these statutes, see, Alaska State Legislature If any errors are found, please e-mail Touch N' Go systems at E-mail. We hope you find this information useful.

Last modified 9/3/2005