[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 20 (Thursday, January 30, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 4458-4459]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-2247]


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POSTAL SERVICE

39 CFR Part 7


Board of Governors Bylaws

AGENCY: Postal Service.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service has 
approved amendments to its bylaws. The amendments repeal unnecessary 
provisions of the Board's regulations concerning the Government in the 
Sunshine Act. One change removes a provision for publishing in the 
Federal Register a notice not required to be published there by the 
Act. The other change removes an unused provision concerning Sunshine 
Act practice by committees of the Board.

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 30, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas J. Koerber, (202) 268-4800.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Board's bylaws, in Secs. 7.4(e) and 
7.5(d), have required publication in the Federal Register of two 
separate notices for each closed meeting of the Board. These are first, 
under Sec. 7.4(e), a notice of the vote to close the meeting, which is 
published immediately after the vote; and second, under Sec. 7.5(d), a 
notice of the time, date, place, and subject of the meeting, which is 
published about 10 days before the meeting.
    The amendment repeals Sec. 7.4(e), in order to remove the bylaws'' 
requirement for Federal Register publication of the first of these 
notices, which goes beyond legal requirements and other agencies'' 
practice. The Government in the Sunshine Act requires that notice of 
votes to close a meeting be made available to the public immediately 
after such a vote, but does not require that this notice be published 
in the Federal Register. The Act does require Federal Register 
publication of the notice of time, date, place, and subject of the 
meeting, as provided for in bylaw Sec. 7.5(d), which is not changed. 
Other federal agencies ordinarily publish only this latter notice. As 
required by the Sunshine Act, 5 U.S.C. 552b(d)(3), the notice of votes 
to close a future meeting will continue to be made publicly available 
through the office of the Secretary to the Board, although no longer 
published in the Federal Register.
    The other amendment repeals Sec. 7.4(d) of the bylaws. This 
provision has provided that a committee of the Board may determine to 
close all of its meetings if it finds that most of them fall under 
certain exemptions under the Government in the Sunshine Act. This

[[Page 4459]]

section parallels a provision in the Sunshine Act, 5 U.S.C. 
Sec. 552b(d)(4). On July 11, 1996, the Board of Governors published 
amendments to its bylaws to delete certain other provisions prescribing 
procedural rules applicable only to committees of the Board, so that 
committee procedure is governed by the Board's general Sunshine Act 
rules in Part 7 of the bylaws, and by the terms of the Act itself. 
Ordinarily, the committees of the Board do not hold ``meetings'' as 
defined in the Sunshine Act. See 61 FR 36498. Repeal of section 7.4(d) 
is consistent with the purposes of the previous amendments.

List of Subjects in 39 CFR Part 7

    Sunshine Act.

    For the reasons set forth above, 39 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter A, is 
amended as follows:

PART 7--PUBLIC OBSERVATION (ARTICLE VII)

    1. The authority citation for part 7 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 39 U.S.C. 401(a), as enacted by Pub. L. 91-375, and 5 
U.S.C. 552b(a)-(m) as enacted by Pub. L. 94-409.


Sec. 7.4  [Amended]

    2. Section 7.4 is amended by removing paragraphs (d) and (e).
Stanley F. Mires,
Chief Counsel, Legislative.
[FR Doc. 97-2247 Filed 1-29-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-12-P