Attorney General's Opinion 1980-81 #384
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).
