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VIRGINIA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. DEFINITIONS. "MEETINGS"
SUBJEC T TO ACT. MEETINGS OF COMMITTEE OF LOCAL GOVERNING BODY WITH
ONLY TWO MEMBERS.
May 11, 1981
The Honorable J. Paul Councill, Jr.
Member, House of Delegates
80-81 384
You ask whether meetings of a committee of a county governing body
are meetings subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (the
"Act") (Ch. 21 of Title 2.1 of the Code of Virginia (1950), as
amended), if the committee has only two members.
Section 2.1-341(a) provides that a meeting under the Act means a
meeting, when sitting as a body or entity, or as an informal
assemblage of (i) as many as three members, or (ii) a quorum, if less
than three, of the constituent membership of any legislative body or
agency of any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, including
counties; governing bodies of counties; and other organizations or
agencies in the Commonwealth, supported wholly or principally by
public funds."1
Prior to the amendment of §2.1-341(a) in 1979, this Office
had held that a gathering of two or more members of a governing body,
as a committee, for the purpose of discussing official business or
functions of the governing body, constituted a "meeting" under
§2.1-341(a), and that such meeting was subject to the same
provisions as gatherings of the full membership of a governmental
body at which official business is considered.2
Under the present wording of §2.1-341(a), the two-member
committee presumably does not constitute a quorum of the governing
body, but the two members necessarily constitute a quorum of the
two-member committee, which committee constitutes a legislative body
or agency of a political subdivision of the Commonwealth, and an
organization or agency in the Commonwealth, supported wholly or
principally by public funds.3
Accordingly, I am of the opinion that meetings of a committee of a
county governing body are meetings subject to the Act, even though
the committee has only two members.
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Footnotes:
1. Section 2.1-341 (a) was amended in 1979 to insert
the language "(i) as many as three members, or (ii) a quorum, if less
than three, of...." See Ch. 687 [1979] Acts of Assembly.
Prior to the amendment, 2.1-341 (a) provided that a meeting under the
Act meant a meeting, when sitting as a body or entity, or as an
informal assemblage, of the constituent membership of, etc.
2. Opinion to the Honorable William N. Alexander,
II, Commonwealth's Attorney for Franklin County, dated March 19,
1976, found in Report
of the Attorney General (1975-1976) at 412.
3. Compare Opinion to the Honorable James B. Murray,
Member, House of Delegates, dated March 22, 1978, found in Report
of the Attorney General (1977-1978) at 482 (honor committee
elected by student body to administer public university's honor code
deemed other organization or agency supported wholly or principally
by public funds).
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