Background
With the goal of increased transparency in local governments, the Indiana State Legislature passed House Enrolled Act No. 1167 (the “Act”). On May 1, 2023, Governor Holcomb signed the Act into law. The Act takes effect on July 1, 2025. However, political subdivisions are encouraged to begin planning to comply with the Act prior to its effective date.
To Whom does the Act Apply?
The Act is applicable to any governing body of a state agency and the following governing bodies of local government: the executive, legislative body or fiscal body of a county, city, town or township, a school board that has members who are elected. Importantly, the Act also applies to any governing body that conducts the governing body’s regular meetings in the same room in which the governing body of a county, city, town, township or school board conducts its regular meetings. This provision has broad application to all local government boards, commissions and other local regulatory governing bodies.
What does the Act Require?
The Act requires governing bodies to provide a publicly accessible platform of the agency’s choice providing the following:
- Live transmissions of the governing body’s meetings; and
- Archived copies of the live transmissions with access links to the meeting’s agenda, minutes, and memoranda, if any are used.
Additionally, all governing bodies must include the website address for the live transmissions and archived copies of live transmissions in every meeting notice.
What happens in the event of technical difficulties?
If a governing body does not have internet capability to live stream meetings, the governing body is required to record the meeting and retain the recording.
Once recorded, the governing body must make available for inspection, copying, or downloading a copy of the transmission or recording for at least 90 days after the date of the meeting.
Technical failures that disrupt or prevent livestreaming or recording the meeting do not prevent the governing body from conducting the meeting, nor does it affect the validity of any action taken by the governing body during the meeting.
How can the public access the recorded meetings?
The governing body must permit a person to inspect and copy or download the transmission or recording without charge from the publicly accessible platform or from the public agency’s storage system upon a request submitted pursuant to the Access to Public Records Act, Ind. Code §5-14-3-3. The agency may charge a reasonable fee for providing a copy or downloaded copy from its database pursuant to Ind. Code §5-14-3-8.
90 days after the date of the meeting, the agency can destroy the transmission or recording of the meeting.
What steps should local governments take now?
Local governing bodies to whom the Act applies should begin preparing for the July 1, 2025 deadline by developing a plan of action to ensure compliance. This plan of action should include a blueprint for examining and updating technological capabilities. Specifically, internet bandwidth, or a connection’s capacity to transmit video will be critically important to a governing body’s ability to comply with the Act. Governing bodies should also develop a publicly accessible archival system to comply with the 90-day storage requirement of the Act.
Public agencies have just over a year to plan for the implementation of the Act. Any questions regarding the implementation of the Act should be directed to the Chairman of the Kroger Gardis & Regas, LLP Governmental Practice Group, Brian C. Bosma at bcb@kgrlaw.com or at (317) 692-9000 or to associate Zachary W. Niceley at zniceley@kgrlaw.com.
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