[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 152 (Tuesday, August 8, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40342-40343]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-19478]



 ========================================================================
 Notices
                                                 Federal Register
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
 and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
 delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
 statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
 appearing in this section.
 
 ========================================================================
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 152 / Tuesday, August 8, 1995 / 
Notices  


[[Page 40342]]


ADMINISTRATIVE CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES


Special Committee to Review the Government in the Sunshine Act

ACTION: Notice of public hearing regarding the Government in the 
Sunshine Act.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The ACUS Special Committee to Review the Government in the 
Sunshine Act will conduct a public hearing to take testimony and 
statements from agency officials and members of the public concerning 
the effectiveness of the Government in the Sunshine Act, as it is now 
implemented by federal boards and commissions. This notice is pursuant 
to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463).

Dates: September 12, 1995, 9 a.m.

Location: Washington, DC (venue to be announced).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Jeffrey Lubbers, (202) 254-7020.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Chair of the Administrative Conference 
of the US (ACUS) was asked by letter, signed by over one dozen current 
and former commissioners of multi-member agencies and several private 
organizations, to review the effectiveness of the Government in the 
Sunshine Act. The signatories of the letter stated strong support for 
the Act's underlying goal of enhancing public understanding of agency 
decisionmaking, but expressed concern as to whether the Act is, in 
fact, meeting this goal as well as it might. They also suggested that 
the Act may have a detrimental effect on collegial deliberation among 
agency members, thereby reducing the overall quality of decisionmaking 
at multi-member agencies. The Chair established the Special Committee 
to study issues raised by the letter.
    The Committee, in its open meetings, has heard from some agency 
officials and reviewed articles written for ACUS and others to the 
effect that public meetings under the Act often lack substantive 
exchange of ideas and collective deliberation on issues being decided. 
In addition, the Committee has been informed that the restrictions 
imposed by the Act make spontaneous collegial discussions difficult or 
impossible as a general matter, adversely affecting the establishment 
of agency agendas and promoting inefficient practices within agencies. 
As a result, the Committee is concerned that the public does not 
receive the information or access to the governmental decisionmaking 
process that the Act was intended to provide. The Committee has 
determined that a public hearing is warranted to address proposed 
suggestions for changes in the Act (or in agency behavior) that will 
increase collegial decisionmaking among the members of multi-member 
agencies, and at the same time improve the public's access to the 
agency's deliberative process.
    Toward that end, the Special Committee hereby provides notice of 
the public hearing and invites the participation of agency officials 
and other interested persons. It would be helpful if participants would 
be prepared to discuss or suggest specific proposals for improving 
public access to agency decisionmaking processes and the quality of 
agency decisionmaking in agencies subject to the Sunshine Act.
    The following proposals are under preliminary consideration by the 
Committee and are suggested for the purpose of framing the discussion 
at the public hearing. It should be noted that the order of the 
proposals is of no particular significance. It may be appropriate to 
consider some proposals in combination or partial combination with 
others, or to consider recommending some or all of them on a pilot 
basis.
    (1) The Act could be amended to cover only meetings of the full 
board or commission.
    (2) The Act could be amended to allow subgroups of the full 
membership of the board or commission to discuss matters in closed 
session, provided that these matters would later be the subject of open 
meetings.
    (3) The Act could be amended by (1) expanding the current 
definition of ``meeting'' to include all get-togethers of a quorum of 
agency members to discuss any agency business, (i.e., without regard to 
whether they ``determine'' agency business) while also (2) permitting 
any such meeting to be held in closed session if minutes of the meeting 
were released to the public shortly after the meeting. (However, 
decisions by the members of an agency would either have to be voted on 
in public meetings or pursuant to seriatim or notation voting.)
    (4) The Act could be amended to allow the closing of additional 
categories of meetings without notice (or with shorter notice), 
provided that minutes or transcripts of closed meetings are released 
soon thereafter.
    (5) The Act could be amended to include additional exemptions, such 
as for agency consideration of legislative and/or budgetary matters--or 
where the agency certifies that such matters involve especially 
sensitive issues.
    (6) The Act could be amended so that the open meeting requirements 
do not apply to discussions of agency actions that will be later 
embodied in a published opinion and order or similar form of agency 
determination in which the agency members set forth their individual 
votes and the rationale and basis for their determination (collectively 
and/or individually to the extent that individual views may differ from 
the collective determination).
    (7) The Act could be amended to remove from coverage any discussion 
of a proposed rulemaking proceeding so long as the discussion occurs 
before the publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking [with or 
without release of minutes or summaries soon thereafter].
    (8) The Act could be amended to allow closed meetings (if no votes 
are taken) on pending rulemaking proceedings, so long as the 
discussions occur during the comment period, or only up to some 
specified time before the proposed rule is subject to a vote [with or 
without release of minutes or summaries soon thereafter].
    (9) The Act could be amended to require that any votes taken 
through notation voting, that would otherwise be required to be taken 
at an open meeting, be subject to discussion, upon the request of an 
agency member, in a subsequent open meeting.
    (10) Agencies could be encouraged to develop regulations (or 
policies) that maximize the amount of information 

[[Page 40343]]
provided before, during and after agency meetings. Meeting notices 
could be published further in advance of the meetings where feasible; 
such notices could provide more complete summaries of upcoming agenda 
items; relevant non-privileged documents could be provided before or 
during meetings; closed circuit television coverage of meetings could 
be provided; and minutes, summaries, and decisional opinions could be 
provided as soon as feasible after meetings.
    The above list of possible recommendations is only tentative and 
your creative ideas are encouraged.
    If you are interested in participating in this public hearing, 
please send your written request to Jeffrey Lubbers, ACUS, 2120 L 
Street NW., Suite 500, Washington, DC 20037. You should indicate why 
you are interested, what organization, if any, you represent, and give 
a very brief summary of the points to be covered in your testimony. 
Please also indicate whether you have any special needs. Requests 
should be submitted by August 25, 1995.
    ACUS reserves the right to limit participation to a feasible number 
of participants, to group participants on panels, to ask participants 
with similar views to select a group representative, and to limit the 
time for participation. Generally, participants should expect to limit 
their prepared remarks to no more than 10 minutes. Shortly after August 
25, ACUS will notify requesters of the proposed hearing schedule and of 
the list of participants.
    Written submission from participants and others are welcomed. 
Unless it is a financial hardship, participants should provide 20 
copies of such submissions to Jeffrey Lubbers at the above address by 
September 5, 1995. Others wishing to provide written comments should 
provide a single copy to Mr. Lubbers by September 12. Attendance at the 
public hearing is open to the public.

    Dated: August 2, 1995.

Jeffrey S. Lubbers,

Research Director.

[FR Doc. 95-19478 Filed 8-7-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6110-01-W