Q: Does the Sunshine Act require agencies to provide a general meeting notice at the beginning of the year, and if so, what are the requirements?

A: Yes. The Sunshine Act requires agencies to provide public notice of its regular meeting schedule.

Section 709 of the Act requires agencies to “give public notice of its first regular meeting of each calendar or fiscal year not less than three days in advance of the meeting and shall give public notice of the schedule of its remaining regular meetings.”  

The law requires the public notice to include the place, date and time of a meeting, and the notice must appear in a newspaper of general circulation.  The law also requires agencies to post a notice of the place, date and time of a meeting prominently at the principal office of the agency holding the meeting or at the public building in which the meeting is to be held. The initial notice of the regular meeting schedule must be published at least three days in advance of the agency’s first regularly scheduled meeting of the year.  

A typical regular meeting notice might look like this: “Borough Council will hold its first regular meeting at 7pm Monday, January 12, Room 15, Borough Hall, 123 Main Street.  Regular meetings for the remainder of the calendar year will occur on the second Monday of each month at 7pm in the same location.”

Special meetings, which are in addition to the regular schedule, require separate public notice in a newspaper of general circulation, and the notice must include the date, time and place of the meeting. Special meeting public notices must be published at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting. News articles, website posting, and other types of notification do not take the place of public notice ads required by law to appear in newspapers of general circulation.  

As always, this is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, legal advice.  Please consult your news organization’s private attorney or the PNA Legal Hotline at (717) 703-3080 with questions.