Board receives training on Open and Public Meetings Act and GRAMA; staff clarify rules on executive sessions, electronic meetings and records

The Utah State Board of Education received a study session on the Open and Public Meetings Act (OPMA) and the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). Assistant Attorney General Buse outlined OPMA duties for public bodies, and Ben Rasmussen, director of law and professional practices, reviewed GRAMA classifications and guidance on email, texts, and records preservation.

AAG Buse summarized the law’s twin goals: “that you as a public body take your actions openly and you conduct your deliberations openly,” and walked board members through requirements such as 24‑hour public notice, the need for agendas with reasonable specificity, and the circumstances when a public body may enter an executive session. Buse advised that a chair (or a vice chair acting under the board’s bylaws) has authority to convene meetings, that a quorum triggers OPMA, and that certain purposes—character…