B. History

• Library: The Sunshine Law Guidebook (2019 Ed.)

B. History

At common law, there was no recognized right of the general public to attend meetings or view records. Journal Publ'g Co. of Rockville, Inc. v. Town of Enfield, 373 A.2d 193, 197 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1974). The delegates to the Constitutional Convention deliberated in secret and were not supposed to take any notes. Various states enacted open meetings requirements for particular governmental bodies throughout the nineteenth century. The first comprehensive open meetings law was enacted in Alabama in 1950. In 1966, Congress enacted the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, to give citizens a statutory right to access federal agency records. Sunshine laws, as they came to be called, continued to gain popularity.

In Missouri, the common law gave access to public records only when the citizen could show that the purpose of inspection was to vindicate a private or public right. State ex rel. Conran v. Williams, 8 S.W. 771, 773 (Mo. 1888). Later, the legislature enacted §§ 109.180 and 109.190, now RSMo 2016, to open all state, county, and municipal records kept under statute or ordinance to personal inspection "by any citizen of Missouri." Section 109.180. Missouri first enacted its "Open Meetings/Open Records Law" (Sunshine Law), Chapter 610, RSMo, Governmental Bodies and Records, in 1973 with the passage of S.B. 1, which added five sections providing access to public meetings and records:

1. Section 610.010, now RSMo 2016—Definitions

2. Section 610.015, now RSMo 2016—Votes, how taken

3. Section 610.020, now RSMo 2016—Notice of meetings, when required—recording of meetings to be allowed, guidelines, penalty—accessibility of meetings—minutes of meetings to be kept, content—voting records to be included

4. Section 610.025, RSMo—Closed meetings authorized, when (repealed in 1987; now § 610.021, RSMo Supp. 2018—Closed meetings and closed records authorized when, exceptions)

5. Section 610.030, now RSMo 2016—Injunctive relief authorized

The Sunshine Law has been amended numerous times since its enactment in 1973. Below is a summary of some of the more notable amendments.

The 1978 amendments expanded the definition of "[p]ublic governmental body" to include any committee appointed under the direction or authority of and authorized to report to any of the previously defined public governmental bodies. Section 610.010(4)(e). In addition, the definition of "quasi-public governmental body" first appeared. Section 610.010(4)(f).

The 1982 amendments enacted...