Public bodies operate under two overlapping transparency regimes, and both are enforced more often by residents and journalists than by regulators.
Open meetings. Decisions generally must be made in meetings that are noticed in advance and open to the public, with minutes kept. Closed sessions are permitted only for specified purposes — commonly pending litigation, certain personnel matters, and real estate negotiations — and typically require a motion stating the purpose and a recorded vote to enter. Deliberating outside a noticed meeting, including through a chain of individual conversations or an email thread that amounts to a quorum, is the recurring violation.
The consequence matters: action taken in violation can be invalidated, and some statutes provide for costs and fees against the body.
Public records. Records must be disclosed on request unless an exemption applies. Response deadlines are short. Exemptions are construed narrowly and must be justified item by item — a blanket refusal is usually reversible, and redaction rather than withholding is generally required where only part is exempt.
Practical guidance for a public body: train on what constitutes deliberation, calendar the response deadlines, and document the reasoning for every closed session and every withheld record at the time, not when it is challenged.