Amends TCA Title 8, Chapter 44.

This bill revises certain provisions governing participation in public meetings by electronic means, as discussed below. Under present law, a governing body may allow participation by electronic or other means of communication for the benefit of the public and the governing body in connection with any meeting authorized by law provided that a physical quorum is present at the location specified in the notice of the meeting. Under present law, "governing body" refers to boards, agencies, and commissions of state government, including state debt issuers and municipal governing bodies. For purposes of this definition, "municipal governing bodies" means only those municipal governing bodies organized under general law with a city manager form-commission charter and having a city commission of three members and a population of more than 2,500. This bill removes "municipal governing bodies" from the definition of "governing body," thereby removing authorization for those municipal governing bodies to hold public meetings in which some members of the governing body are participating electronically under the above-described present law provision. This bill defines "electronic means of communication" for purposes of the above-described authorization for participation in public meetings by electronic or other means to mean communication by video conference or audio conference and to include the use of an internet-based platform. Under present law, a meeting held by electronic means under the above-described authorization must comply with the following: (1) The meeting must comply with the requirements of the open meetings laws and must not circumvent the spirit or requirements of those laws; (2) Notices required by the open meetings laws or any other notice required by law, must state that the meeting will be conducted permitting participation by electronic or other means of communication; (3) Each part of a meeting required to be open to the public must be audible to the public at the location specified in the notice of the meeting. Each member participating electronically or otherwise must be able to simultaneously hear each other and speak to each other during the meeting. Any member participating in such fashion must identify the persons present in the location from which the member is participating; (4) Any member of a governing body not physically present at a meeting must be provided, before the meeting, with any documents that will be discussed at the meeting, with substantially the same content as those documents actually presented; (5) All votes taken during a meeting must be by roll call vote; and (6) A member participating in a meeting by this means is deemed to be present in person at the meeting for purposes of voting, but not for purposes of determining per diem eligibility. However, a member may be reimbursed expenses of such electronic communication or other means of participation. This bill revises the notice requirement described above in item (2) to instead provide that the notice and the agenda for the meeting must: state that the meeting will include members of the governing body who are participating by electronic means of communication; and contain the telephone number, internet link, passwords, and all other information for members of the public to access the meeting electronically and to view, listen, and participate or provide comment, if public participation and comments are allowed in the meeting. Also, this bill adds the following new requirements: (A) If members of a governing body participate in a meeting using electronic means of communication, the governing body must allow members of the public who are not in attendance at the physical location of the meeting to: (i) View and listen to the meeting by electronic means in real time, if the meeting is conducted using video conference; or listen to the meeting by electronic means in real time, if the meeting is conducted with audio only with no video; and (ii) Participate or provide comment by electronic means of communication, if participation or public comment would normally be allowed at the meeting; (B) A governing body is prohibited from requiring members of the public to register in advance to view or listen to a meeting; and (C) A governing body that conducts a meeting allowing participation by electronic means of communication must make a video recording of the meeting, or an audio recording if the meeting was held without video, and post the recording or a link to the recording on its website that contains information about the governing body and its meetings. The governing body must post the recording as soon as possible but no later than three business days after the meeting. The governing body must retain the recording for at least five years after the recording was created. Under present law, members of an emergency communications district board of directors may participate in meetings by electronic means approved by the board. A board member who participates in a meeting electronically is present for purposes of creating a quorum and voting on matters presented to the board for consideration during the meeting to the same extent as a board member who is physically present at the meeting. Present law provides that the requirements described above in (1)-(3) apply to meetings held under these circumstances; this bill revises this provision to add that the items added by this bill, as described above in (A)-(C) also apply to such meetings (this includes the revision to the notice requirement as described above). This bill requires a member of a governing body to be physically present for at least 50 percent of the governing body's meeting during a calendar year. If a member is not present for at least 50 percent of the governing body's meetings for two consecutive calendar years, the chairperson of the governing body must declare the member's office vacant and replace the member in the manner prescribed by law.