The Senate has concurred in Senate Bill 1108, as passed earlier today by the House of Representatives, and granted immediate effect. It will now be enrolled, printed and presented to the Governor for signature.

SB 1108 amends the Open Meetings Act. Several changes were made including, but not limited to:

• Retroactive application to March 18, 2020 to cover virtual meetings that have taken place since then.
• Allows for the continuation of virtual meetings for any circumstances through December 31, 2020.
• Allows for remote participation between January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2021 for specified circumstances including military duty, a medical condition, or a statewide or local state of emergency or state of disaster that would risk personal health or safety of the members of the public or the public body if the meeting were held in person.
• Specifies that only members absent due to military duty or a medical condition may participate remotely. Any member not on military duty or does not have a medical condition must be physically present at the meeting (unless a state of emergency or disaster has been declared).
• Requires members of the public body attending a meeting remotely after December 31, 2020 to declare, and be included in the meeting minutes, that the member is attending remotely and from where. This does not apply to members participating remotely due to military duty.

The League thanks everyone who reached out to their legislators to urge the timely passing of this bill! Please thank them if they supported.

Jennifer Rigterink is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development, land use and municipal services issues.  She can be reached at [email protected] or 517-908-0305.