Bill
SB 1023
SB 1023 expands Open Meetings Act closed sessions to include attorney consultations and talks on pending/potential litigation, settlements, opinions, or criminal investigations.
Status
- Bill number: SB 1023
- Subject: Civil rights — Open Meetings Act
- Introduced: January 30, 2025
- Current status (per provided info): Referred to Committee on Government Operations
- Statutory target: Amends section 8 of 1976 PA 267 (MCL 15.268) (Open Meetings Act)
- Committee analyses/committee reports indicate no fiscal impact.
Purpose / intent
- To broaden the circumstances under which a Michigan public body may lawfully meet in closed session, particularly when consulting with counsel or considering claims/litigation-related matters. The change is intended to give public bodies greater ability to have confidential, candid legal discussions about current or potential judicial matters.
Key provisions / substantive changes
- Retains existing list of allowable closed-session purposes (personnel discipline, property negotiations, collective bargaining strategy, statutory exemptions, etc.) and adds or clarifies several attorney-consultation and litigation-related grounds:
- Allows closed sessions to consult with the public body’s attorney regarding pending or notice of potential litigation in which the public body or a member is a party or potential party. (This replaces the narrower current allowance that is limited to “trial or settlement strategy” for specific pending litigation and that applies only when an open meeting would have a detrimental financial effect.)
- Explicitly allows closed sessions to consider the attorney’s oral or written legal opinion, regardless of whether the attorney is present.
- Permits closed sessions to consider a demand or offer made to (or by) the public body to settle a claim against the public body or a member.
- Permits closed sessions to consider a lawsuit the public body is contemplating filing.
- Permits closed sessions to consult regarding a criminal investigation against a public body member or employee.
- Confirms that the independent citizens redistricting commission may not meet in closed session for any purpose (existing exclusion retained).
- Clarifies that a public body may still meet in closed session under other existing subdivisions where applicable (for example, to consider material exempt by statute).
Who would be affected
- All “public bodies” subject to Michigan’s Open Meetings Act — state and local boards, commissions, councils, school boards, municipal bodies, and governing boards of public institutions — could use the expanded closed-session grounds.
- Members and employees of public bodies (e.g., when criminal investigations or contemplated legal actions involving them are discussed).
- The public and open-government advocates, as the amendments broaden circumstances when deliberations can be private.
Procedural/timeline notes
- The bill amends MCL 15.268 (section 8 of the Open Meetings Act). As of the information provided, SB 1023 is in committee (referred to the Committee on Government Operations after introduction on 1/30/2025). Committee reports and substitute language (S‑1) circulated in prior stages articulate the text summarized above.
- Committee fiscal analyses indicate no state or local fiscal impact.
Potential impacts and considerations (neutral)
- Administrative: Gives public bodies more flexibility to obtain and discuss legal advice confidentially and to negotiate settlements or assess potential litigation without public disclosure.
- Transparency: Expanding closed-session grounds reduces the number of matters discussed in public; oversight groups may raise concerns about diminished public access and potential misuse to shield policy deliberations.
- Legal practice: Explicitly authorizing discussion of attorneys’ oral/written legal opinions (even without attorney presence) can affect how counsel deliver advice and how bodies document legal guidance.
- No direct fiscal effects noted in committee reports.
Primary reference
- Proposed amendments to section 8 of the Open Meetings Act (MCL 15.268) — substitute S‑1 text expanding closed-session grounds as summarized above.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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