Community Media Public Benefit Bill: H.575 and S.181: Vermont Senate Government Operations - Discussion of S.59 Open Meeting Law

Description

Discussion of S.59 Open Meeting Law at the Vermont Senate Government Operations.

On Thursday, the Senate Government Operations committee reviewed and voted on S.59, a bill that would make technical changes to Open Meeting Law. The primary change involves excepting advisory bodies from the requirement to be recorded. Site inspections and field visits are also excepted. A previous version of this bill contemplated excepting town meetings from this requirement as well, but that provision has since been removed from the bill. After reviewing the draft, the Committee voted 5-0-0 to pass the bill out of committee. On Friday, the bill was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee, so they will have to consider it next week.

S.59: as passed by the Committee: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Workgroups/Senate%20Government%20Operations/Bills/S.59/Drafts,%20Amendments,%20and%20Legal%20Documents/S.59~Tucker%20Anderson~%20Committee%20Report%20(5-0-0)~3-13-2025%20-%20Copy.pdf