Virginia public bodies would count approved remote members toward required attendance

Public bodies would count approved remote members as physically present when determining whether they have a quorum. The rule covers individual members of Virginia public bodies, including government boards and committees. A quorum is the minimum attendance needed to conduct business. The public body must adopt a policy at least annually by recorded vote at a public meeting and apply it equally to all members. The member must notify the chair of a health condition preventing attendance, care duties preventing attendance, a home more than 60 miles away, or a specifically explained personal matter. Care duties must involve a family member’s medical condition or care for a person with a disability by a relative or legally appointed guardian. Personal matters are limited to two meetings per calendar year or 25 percent of yearly meetings, rounded up, whichever is greater. The policy may set a lower limit. The public body must adopt its policy before allowing remote attendance and renew it at least annually.

Virginia’s open-meetings rules would treat an informal gathering of a quorum as a meeting, with exceptions for gatherings where members do not discuss or conduct public business. The definition covers informal gatherings of members of public bodies, wherever held, whether or not they take votes or keep minutes. A gathering falls outside the definition if it has no public-business purpose, was not arranged for that purpose, and members do not discuss or conduct public business. An information-focused public event also falls outside the definition when its purpose is not to conduct public business and members do not discuss or conduct that business among themselves. Appointing a quorum of one public body to another public body does not itself count as a meeting of the first body.