Reviser briefs House Energy committee on open-meetings and open-records duties

Nick Myers, senior staff at the Office of Revisor of Statutes, told the House Committee on Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications on the committee room floor that the Kansas Open Meetings Act (COMA) and Kansas Open Records Act (CORA) require that meetings be open to the public and that records provided to the committee generally must be disclosed on request.

Myers said COMA covers any gathering of a majority of a public body's voting members that discusses the body's business and noted that ‘‘interactive communications in a series’’—including emails, social‑media exchanges and serial phone calls—can create a meeting if they involve a majority, share a common topic and are intended to reach agreement. ‘‘Once the communications start to become a reply all or start to touch every single member of or majority of the members of this body, you got a meeting happening,’’ Myers said.

The guidance stressed practical points members should remember: meetings must be open and reasonably accessible; notice should be provided to those who request it; recording and videotaping are allowed though the chair may set reasonable restrictions; and documents passed out to the committee become public records subject to CORA. Myers also summarized enforcement risks, saying a knowing violation can carry civil penalties and that enforcement actions typically lead to consent orders and remedial training.

Why it matters: the committee handles energy and utilities matters that generate frequent stakeholder communication and document exchanges. Myers warned that the committee’s routine use of electronic files and shared drives creates a particular disclosure risk if draft materials are distributed to committee members.

During the question period, Representative Cindy Nabors (State Representative, 18th District) asked how much advance notice is reasonable when a chair must change a meeting time. Myers replied that reasonable notice is judged ‘‘in light of the circumstances’’—for example, the legislature’s 90‑day session pace may justify different timing than a quarterly local board—and urged chairs to provide as much notice as practicable. Representative Patrick Penn (State Representative, 85th District) asked whether committee materials placed in an internal drive that are not posted on the website nevertheless become public; Myers said such materials should be made available on request and that if a document is used by the committee to consider action it is likely a public record. Representative John Carmichael (State Representative, 92nd District) raised whether materials emailed to some members—two or three, a majority, or only members of one party—might create a meeting; Myers reiterated the risk that serial communications or ‘‘reply all’’ threads can create a meeting and encouraged caution.

Myers offered the reviser’s office as a resource for committees handling CORA requests and recommended that chairs and staff consult the office when uncertain. He closed by reminding members that the purpose of COMA and CORA is to keep governmental business ‘‘in the public eye’’ and offered to answer follow‑up questions.

The committee did not take any formal action on COMA/CORA during the session; Myers’ presentation was a staff briefing and Q&A.