The Government in the Sunshine Act (, ) is a U.S.
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
passed in 1976 that affects the operations of the federal government, Congress, federal commissions, and other legally constituted federal bodies. It is one of a number of
Freedom of Information Acts, intended to create greater
transparency in government
Open government is the governing doctrine which sustain that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its broadest construction, it opposes reason of state and ...
.
Effect
"The Sunshine Act provides, with ten specified exemptions, that 'every portion of every meeting of an agency shall be open to public observation.' 5 U.S.C. 552b(b) It imposes procedural requirements to ensure, ''inter alia''
mong other things that advance notice is given to the public before agency meetings take place. It also imposes procedural requirements an agency must follow before determining that one of the ten exemptions from the openness requirement applies. However, neither the openness requirement, nor the related procedural requirements, are triggered unless the governmental entity at issue is an 'agency,' and unless the gathering in question is a 'meeting' of the agency." ''
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...
, Inc., v.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...
'', 216 F.3d 1180, 1182 (D.C. Cir. 2000).
Definitions and exceptions
The statute defines a "meeting" as "the deliberations of at least the number of individual agency members required to take action on behalf of the agency where such deliberations determine or result in the joint conduct or disposition of official agency business". 552b(a)(2).
The statute defines "agency" to include "any agency ... headed by a collegial body composed of two or more individual members ... and any subdivision thereof authorized to act on behalf of the agency". 552b(a)(1).
The Sunshine Act enumerates ten specific exemptions for categories of information that need not be disclosed. In summary these are:
* information relating to national defense;
* related solely to internal personnel rules and practices;
* matters specifically protected by law;
* trade secrets or privileged/confidential commercial information;
* matters censuring or accusing a person of a crime;
* information where disclosure would constitute a breach of privacy;
* related to investigatory records where the information would harm the proceedings;
* information for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions;
* which would lead to financial speculation or endanger the stability of any financial institution; or
* related to the agency's participation in legal proceedings.
Purpose
The
legislative intent
In law, the legislative intent of the legislature in enacting legislation may sometimes be considered by the judiciary to interpret the law (see judicial interpretation). The judiciary may attempt to assess legislative intent where legislation ...
of the Act is as follows:
"The basic premise of the sunshine legislation is that, in the words of
federalist No. 49, 'the people are the only legitimate foundation of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter ... is derived.' Government is and should be the servant of the people, and it should be fully accountable to them for the actions which it supposedly takes on their behalf." (U.S.C.C.A.N. 2183, 2186).
See also
*
Federal Advisory Committee Act The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (), is a United States federal law which governs the behavior of federal advisory committees. In particular, it has special emphasis on open meetings, chartering, public involvement, and reporting. The U.S. ...
(1974)
*
Freedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), , is the U.S. federal freedom of information law that requires the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased or uncirculated information and documents controlled by the United States government, s ...
(1966)
*
Open-source governance
Open-source governance (also known as open governance and open politics) is a political philosophy which advocates the application of the philosophies of the open-source and open-content movements to democratic principles to enable any intere ...
External links
Government in the Sunshine Act, U.S. General Services Administration
{{DEFAULTSORT:Government In The Sunshine Act
94th United States Congress
United States federal government administration legislation
1976 in American law
Freedom of information in the United States