2021-12-16 Merit Appeals Board Minutes

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Quick Review: Sunshine Law Requirements for Remote Meetings (Revised October 2021) The Sunshine Law allows boards to hold remote meetings where board members and the public participate from various non-public locations as well as at least one physical meeting site, all connected via a remote meeting platform such as Zoom, WebEx or other interactive conference technology OCT), subject to requirements listed in new section 92-_, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS). This Quick Review discusses the requirements for holding a remote meeting. Note that OIP has created a separate Quick Review for In-Person Meetings Held at Multiple Sites,which generally require board member attendance in person and are not considered to be "remote" meetings even if the various sites are connected using ICT. Access to the Remote Meeting Whatever remote meeting platform or ICT is used for a meeting must generally allow audio-visual interaction between board members and the public. Board members and the public can attend and participate from anywhere via an online connection to the meeting platform, or in some cases by a phone connection to the meeting platform. Even though a board must still provide a physical public location connected to the meeting as further discussed below,there is no requirement for either board members or members of the public to go to the public location to participate in the meeting. Similarly, there is no requirement for board members to allow the public to join them at their homes, offices,or other private locations where they are physically located while participating in the remote meeting. The notice fora remote meeting must inform the public how to remotely participate in the meeting,including how to view and testify at the meeting. This will typically take the form of a link to the scheduled remote meeting on whateverplatform is being used, but the law does allow the board to provide separate connections for the public to view the meeting and to provide oral testimony. For instance, a board deciding a controversial and high-interest issue might choose to minimize the possibility of disruption during the meeting by having board members and staff access the meeting via a WebEx link not listed on the notice,while public access to view the meeting is via a live one-way YouTube stream and oral testimony is via a phone number, both listed on the notice. Regardless of how the board provides public access to view and testify, the connection(s) must be contemporaneous with the meeting and allow members and the public to hear Quick Review: Sunshine Law Requirements for Remote Meetings (revised 10/2021) Page 1 ATT. B