CFR Subpart C

CFR Subpart C
in effect

18 C.F.R. § 1301.41 Purpose and scope.

(a) The provisions of this subpart are intended to implement the requirements of section 3(a) of the Government in the Sunshine Act, 5 U.S.C. 552b, consistent with the purposes and provisions of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act of 1933, 16 U.S.C. 831-831dd. (b) Nothing in this subpart expands or limits the present rights of any person under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552) and the provisions of Subpart A of this part, except that the exemptions set forth in § 1301.46 shall govern in the case of any request made pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act and Subpart A to copy or inspect the transcripts, recordings, or minutes described in § 1301.47. (c) Nothing in this subpart authorizes TVA to withhold from any individual any record, including transcripts, recordings, or minutes required by this subpart, which is otherwise accessible to such individual under the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) and the provisions of Subpart B. (d) The requirements of Chapter 33 of Title 44 of the United States Code shall not apply to the transcripts, recordings, and minutes described in § 1301.47.

18 C.F.R. § 1301.42 Definitions.

For the purposes of this subpart: (a) The term Board means the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority; (b) The term meeting means the deliberations of five or more members of the TVA Board where such deliberations determine or result in the joint conduct or disposition of official TVA business, but the term does not include deliberations required or permitted by § 1301.44 or § 1301.45; (c) The term member means an individual who is a member of the TVA Board; and (d) The term TVA means the Tennessee Valley Authority.

18 C.F.R. § 1301.43 Open meetings.

Members shall not jointly conduct or dispose of TVA business other than in accordance with this subpart. Except as provided in § 1301.46, every portion of every meeting of the agency shall be open to public observation, and TVA shall provide suitable facilities therefor, but participation in the deliberations at such meetings shall be limited to members and certain TVA personnel. The public may make reasonable use of electronic or other devices or cameras to record deliberations or actions at meetings so long as such use is not disruptive of the meetings.

18 C.F.R. § 1301.44 Notice of meetings.

(a) TVA shall make a public announcement of the time, place, and subject matter of each meeting, whether it is to be open or closed to the public, and the name and telephone number of a TVA official who can respond to requests for information about the meeting. (b) Such public announcement shall be made at least one week before the meeting unless a majority of the members determines by a recorded vote that TVA business requires that such meeting be called at an earlier date. If an earlier date is so established, TVA shall make such public announcement at the earliest practicable time. (c) Following a public announcement required by paragraph (a) of this section, the time or place of the meeting may be changed only if TVA publicly announces the change at the earliest practicable time. The subject matter of a meeting or the determination to open or close a meeting or portion of a meeting to the public may be changed following the public announcement required by paragraph (a) of this section only if a majority of the entire membership determines by a recorded vote that TVA business so requires and that no earlier announcement of the change was possible and if TVA publicly announces such change and the vote of each member upon such change at the earliest, practicable time. (d) Immediately following each public announcement required by this section, notice of the time, place, and subject matter of a meeting, whether the meeting is open or closed, any change in one of the preceding, and the name and phone number of the TVA official designated to respond to requests for information about the meeting shall be submitted for publication in the Federal Register.

18 C.F.R. § 1301.45 Procedure for closing meetings.

(a) Action under § 1301.46 to close a meeting shall be taken only when a majority of the members vote to take such action. A separate vote shall be taken with respect to each meeting a portion or portions of which are proposed to be closed to the public pursuant to § 1301.46 or with respect to any information which is proposed to be withheld under § 1301.46. A single vote may be taken with respect to a series of meetings, a portion or portions of which are proposed to be closed to the public, or with respect to any information concerning such series of meetings, so long as each meeting in such series involves the same particular matters and is scheduled to be held no more than 30 days after the initial meeting in such series. The vote of each member participating in such vote shall be recorded and no proxies shall be allowed. (b) Notwithstanding that the members may have already voted not to close a meeting, whenever any person whose interests may be directly affected by a portion of a meeting requests that the agency close such portion to the public for any of the reasons referred to in paragraphs (e), (f), or (g) of § 1301.46, the Board, upon request of any one of its members made prior to the commencement of such portion, shall vote by recorded vote whether to close such portion of the meeting. (c) Within one day of any vote taken pursuant to this section, TVA shall make publicly available in accordance with § 1301.48 a written copy of such vote reflecting the vote of each member on the question. If a portion of a meeting is to be closed to the public, TVA shall, within one day of the vote taken pursuant to this section, make publicly available in accordance with § 1301.48 a full written explanation of this action closing the portion together with a list of all persons expected to attend the meeting and their affiliation. (d) Prior to every meeting closed pursuant to § 1301.46, there shall be a certification by the General Counsel of TVA stating whether, in his or her opinion, the meeting may be closed to the public and each relevant exemptive provision. A copy of such certification shall be retained by TVA and shall be made publicly available in accordance with § 1301.48.

18 C.F.R. § 1301.46 Criteria for closing meetings.

Except in a case where the Board finds that the public interest requires otherwise, the second sentence of § 1301.43 shall not apply to any portion of a meeting and such portion may be closed to the public, and the requirements of §§ 1301.44 and 1301.45(a), (b), and (c) shall not apply to any information pertaining to such meeting otherwise required by this subpart to be disclosed to the public, where the Board properly determines that such portion or portions of its meeting or the disclosure of such information is likely to: (a) Disclose matters that are (1) specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interests of national defense or foreign policy and (2) in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order; (b) Relate solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency; (c) Disclose matters specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than 5 U.S.C. 552), provided that such statute (1) requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue, or (2) establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld; (d) Disclose trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential; (e) Involve accusing any person of a crime, or formally censuring any person; (f) Disclose information of a personal nature where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; (g) Disclose investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, or information which if written would be contained in such records, but only to the extent that the production of such records or information would: (1) Interfere with enforcement proceedings, (2) Deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (3) Constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (4) Disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, confidential information furnished only by the confidential source, (5) Disclose investigative techniques and procedures, or (6) Endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel; (h) Disclose information contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of any agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions; (i) Disclose information the premature disclosure of which would: (1) In the case of any agency which regulates currencies, securities, commodities, or financial institutions, be likely to (i) lead to significant financial speculation in currencies, securities, or commodities, or (ii) significantly endanger the stability of any financial institution; or (2) In the case of any agency, be likely to significantly frustrate implementation of a proposed agency action, except that this provision shall not apply in any instance where the agency has already disclosed to the public the content or nature of its proposed action, or where the agency is required by law to make such disclosure on its own initiative prior to taking final action on such proposal; or (j) Specifically concern an agency's issuance of a subpena, or its participation in a civil action or proceeding, an action in a foreign court or international tribunal, or an arbitration, or the initiation, conduct, or disposition by an agency of a particular case of formal agency adjudication pursuant to the procedures in 5 U.S.C. 554 or otherwise involving a determination on the record after opportunity for a hearing.

18 C.F.R. § 1301.47 Transcripts of closed meetings.

(a) For every meeting closed pursuant to § 1301.46, the presiding officer of the meeting shall prepare a statement setting forth the time and place of the meeting, and the persons present, and such statement shall be retained by TVA. (b) TVA shall maintain a complete transcript or electronic recording adequate to record fully the proceedings of each meeting, or portion of a meeting, closed to the public, except that in the case of a meeting, or portion of a meeting, closed to the public pursuant to paragraph (h), (i)(1), or (j) of § 1301.46, TVA shall maintain either such a transcript or recording, or a set of minutes. Such minutes shall fully and clearly describe all matters discussed and shall provide a full and accurate summary of any actions taken, and the reasons therefor, including a description of each of the views expressed on any item and the record of any rollcall vote (reflecting the vote of each member on the question). All documents considered in connection with any action shall be identified in such minutes. (c) TVA shall maintain a complete verbatim copy of the transcript, a complete copy of the minutes, or a complete electronic recording of each meeting, or portion of a meeting, closed to the public, for a period of at least two years after such meeting, or until one year after the conclusion of any TVA proceeding with respect to which the meeting or portion was held, whichever occurs later.

18 C.F.R. § 1301.48 Public availability of transcripts and other documents.

(a) Public announcements of meetings pursuant to § 1301.44, written copies of votes to change the subject matter of meetings made pursuant to § 1301.44(c), written copies of votes to close meetings and explanations of such closings made pursuant to § 1301.45(c), and certifications of the General Counsel made pursuant to § 1301.45(d) shall be available for public inspection during regular business hours in the TVA Research Library, 400 W. Summit Hill Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902-1401. (b) TVA shall make promptly available to the public at the location described in paragraph (a) of this section the transcript, electronic recording, or minutes (as required by § 1301.47(b)) of the discussion of any item on the agenda, or of any item of the testimony of any witness received at the meeting, except for such item or items of such discussion or testimony as TVA determines to contain information which may be withheld under § 1301.46. Each request for such material shall be made to the Manager, Media Relations, Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902-1499; state that it is a request for records pursuant to the Government in the Sunshine Act and this subpart; and reasonably describe the discussion or item of testimony, and the date of the meeting, with sufficient specificity to permit TVA to identify the item requested. (c) In the event the person making a request under paragraph (b) of this section has reason to believe that all transcripts, electronic recordings, or minutes or portions thereof requested by that person and required to be made available under paragraph (b) of this section were not made available, the person shall make a written request to the Senior Manager, Media Relations, for such additional transcripts, electronic recordings, or minutes or portions thereof as that person believes should have been made available under paragraph (b) of this section and shall set forth in the request the reasons why such additional material is required to be made available with sufficient particularity for the Senior Manager, Media Relations, to determine the validity of such request. Promptly after a request pursuant to this paragraph is received, the Senior Manager, Media Relations, or his/her designee shall make a determination as to whether to comply with the request, and shall immediately give written notice of the determination to the person making the request. If the determination is to deny the request, the notice to the person making the request shall include a statement of the reasons for the denial, a notice of the right of the person making the request to appeal the denial to TVA's Senior Vice President, Communications, and the time limits thereof. (d) If the determination pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section is to deny the request, the person making the request may appeal such denial to TVA's Senior Vice President, Communications. Such an appeal must be taken within 30 days after the person's receipt of the determination by the Senior Manager, Media Relations, and is taken by delivering a written notice of appeal to the Senior Vice President, Communications, Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, Tennessee 37902-1401. Such notice shall include a statement that it is an appeal from a denial of a request under § 1301.48(c) and the Government in the Sunshine Act and shall indicate the date on which the denial was issued and the date on which the denial was received by the person making the request. Promptly after such an appeal is received, TVA's Senior Vice President, Communications, or the Senior Vice President's designee shall make a final determination on the appeal. In making such a determination, TVA will consider whether or not to waive the provisions of any exemption contained in § 1301.46. TVA shall immediately give written notice of the final determination to the person making the request. If the final determination on the appeal is to deny the request, the notice to the person making the request shall include a statement of the reasons for the denial and a notice of the person's right to judicial review of the denial. (e) Copies of materials available for public inspection under this section shall be furnished to any person at the actual cost of duplication or transcription.

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