Open Meetings

29 C.F.R. Part ..., Subpart S
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01

29 C.F.R. § 102.137 Public observation of Board meetings.

Every portion of every meeting of the Board will be open to public observation, except as provided in § 102.139, and Board Members will not jointly conduct or dispose of Agency business other than in accordance with the provisions of this subpart.

29 C.F.R. § 102.138 Definition of meeting.

For purposes of this subpart, meeting means the deliberations of at least three Members of the full Board, or the deliberations of at least two Members of any group of three Board Members to whom the Board has delegated powers which it may itself exercise, where such deliberations determine or result in the joint conduct or disposition of official Agency business, but does not include deliberations to determine whether a meeting may be closed to public observation in accordance with the provisions of this subpart.

29 C.F.R. § 102.139 Closing of meetings; reasons.

(a) Except where the Board determines that the public interest requires otherwise, meetings, or portions thereof, will not be open to public observation where the deliberations concern the issuance of a subpoena, the Board's participation in a civil action or proceeding or an arbitration, or the initiation, conduct, or disposition by the Board of particular representation or unfair labor practice proceedings under Section 8, 9, or 10 of the Act, or any court proceedings collateral or ancillary thereto. (b) Meetings, or portions thereof, may also be closed by the Board, except where it determines that the public interest requires otherwise, when the deliberations concern matters or information falling within the reasons for closing meetings specified in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(1) (secret matters concerning national defense or foreign policy); (c)(2) (internal personnel rules and practices); (c)(3) (matters specifically exempted from disclosure by statute); (c)(4) (privileged or confidential trade secrets and commercial or financial information); (c)(5) (matters of alleged criminal conduct or formal censure); (c)(6) (personal information where disclosure would cause a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy); (c)(7) (certain materials or information from investigatory files compiled for law enforcement purposes); or (c)(9)(B) (disclosure would significantly frustrate implementation of a proposed Agency action).

29 C.F.R. § 102.140 Action necessary to close meeting; record of votes.

A meeting will be closed to public observation under § 102.139, only when a majority of the Board Members who will participate in the meeting vote to take such action. (a) When the meeting deliberations concern matters specified in § 102.139(a), the Board Members will vote at the beginning of the meeting, or portion of the meeting, on whether to close such meeting, or portion of the meeting, to public observation, and on whether the public interest requires that a meeting which may properly be closed may nevertheless be open to public observation. A record of such vote, reflecting the vote of each Board Member, will be kept and made available to the public at the earliest practicable time. (b) When the meeting deliberations concern matters specified in § 102.139(b), the Board will vote on whether to close such meeting, or portion of the meeting, to public observation, and on whether there is a public interest which requires that a meeting which may properly be closed may nevertheless be open to public observation. The vote will be taken at a time sufficient to permit inclusion of information concerning the open or closed status of the meeting in the public announcement of the vote. A single vote may be taken with respect to a series of meetings at which the deliberations will concern the same particular matters where such subsequent meetings are scheduled to be held within 30 days after the initial meeting. A record of such vote, reflecting the vote of each Board Member, will be kept and made available to the public within one day after the vote is taken. (c) Whenever any person whose interests may be directly affected by deliberations during a meeting, or a portion of a meeting, requests that the Board close the meeting, or a portion of the meeting, to public observation for any of the reasons specified in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(5) (matters of alleged criminal conduct or formal censure), (c)(6) (personal information where disclosure would cause a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy), or (c)(7) (certain materials or information from investigatory files compiled for law enforcement purposes), the Board Members participating in the meeting, upon request of any one of its Members, will vote on whether to close such meeting, or a portion of the meeting, for that reason. A record of such vote, reflecting the vote of each Board Member participating in the meeting will be kept and made available to the public within 1 day after the vote is taken. (d) After public announcement of a meeting as provided in § 102.141, a meeting, or portion of a meeting, announced as closed may be opened, or a meeting, or portion of a meeting, announced as open may be closed, only if a majority of the Board Members who will participate in the meeting determine by a recorded vote that Board business so requires and that an earlier announcement of the change was not possible. The change made and the vote of each Board Member on the change will be announced publicly at the earliest practicable time. (e) Before a meeting may be closed pursuant to § 102.139, the Solicitor of the Board will certify that in the Solicitor's opinion the meeting may properly be closed to public observation. The certification will set forth each applicable exemptive provision for such closing. Such certification will be retained by the Agency and made publicly available as soon as practicable.

29 C.F.R. § 102.141 Notice of meetings; public announcement and publication.

(a) A public announcement setting forth the time, place, and subject matter of meetings or portions of meetings closed to public observation pursuant to the provisions of § 102.139(a) will be made at the earliest practicable time. (b) Except for meetings closed to public observation pursuant to the provisions of § 102.139(a), the Agency will publicly announce each meeting to be held at least 7 days before the scheduled date of the meeting. The announcement will specify the time, place, and subject matter of the meeting, whether it is to be open to public observation or closed, and the name, address, and phone number of an Agency official designated to respond to requests for information about the meeting. The 7-day period for advance notice may be shortened only upon a determination by a majority of the Board Members who will participate in the meeting that Agency business requires that such meeting be called at an earlier date, in which event the public announcements will be made at the earliest practicable time. A record of the vote to schedule a meeting at an earlier date will be kept and made available to the public. (c) Within 1 day after the vote to close a meeting, or any portion of a meeting, pursuant to the provisions of § 102.139(b), the Agency will make publicly available a full written explanation of its action closing the meeting, or portion of a meeting, together with a list of all persons expected to attend the meeting and their affiliation. (d) If after public announcement required by paragraph (b) of this section has been made, the time and place of the meeting are changed, a public announcement will be made at the earliest practicable time. The subject matter of the meeting may be changed after the public announcement only if a majority of the Members of the Board who will participate in the meeting determine that Agency business so requires and that no earlier announcement of the change was possible. When such a change in subject matter is approved a public announcement of the change will be made at the earliest practicable time. A record of the vote to change the subject matter of the meeting will be kept and made available to the public. (e) All announcements or changes issued pursuant to the provisions of paragraphs (b) and (d) of this section, or pursuant to provisions of § 102.140(d), will be submitted for publication in the Federal Register immediately following their release to the public. (f) Announcements of meetings made pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be made publicly available by the executive secretary.

29 C.F.R. § 102.142 Transcripts, recordings, or minutes of closed meetings; public availability; retention.

(a) For every meeting or portion of a meeting closed under the provisions of § 102.139, the presiding officer will prepare a statement setting forth the time and place of the meeting and the persons present, which statement will be retained by the Agency. For each such meeting or portion of a meeting there will also be maintained a complete transcript or electronic recording of the proceedings, except that for meetings closed pursuant to § 102.139(a) the Board may, in lieu of a transcript or electronic recording, maintain a set of minutes fully and accurately summarizing any action taken, the reasons for taking the action, and views on the action taken, documents considered, and the Board Members' vote on each roll call vote. (b) The Agency will promptly make available to the public copies of transcripts, recordings, or minutes maintained as provided in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section, except to the extent the items contain information which the Agency determines may be withheld pursuant to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552(c). Copies of transcripts or minutes, or transcriptions of electronic recordings including the identification of speakers, will, to the extent determined to be publicly available, be furnished to any person, subject to the payment of duplication costs in accordance with the schedule of fees set forth in § 102.117(c)(2)(iv), and the actual cost of transcription. (c) The Agency will maintain a complete verbatim copy of the transcript, a complete electronic recording, or a complete set of the minutes for each meeting or portion of a meeting closed to the public, for a period of at least one year after the close of the Agency proceeding of which the meeting was a part, but in no event for a period of less than 2 years after such meeting.

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