New York Open Meetings Law: Notice, Executive Sessions, and Remedies

The New York Open Meetings Law, found in Article 7 of the Public Officers Law, requires that meetings of state and local government bodies be open to the public whenever a quorum gathers to conduct public business. It sets rules for advance notice, minutes, and public access; it limits when a body can close the doors; and it gives any aggrieved person the right to go to court, void the body’s actions, and, in serious cases, collect attorney fees.

Which Bodies and Meetings Are Covered

A “public body” is any entity of two or more members that needs a quorum to conduct public business and performs a governmental function for the state, a state agency, or a public corporation such as a county, city, town, or village. Committees and subcommittees of those entities are covered too, along with entities created to carry out a necessary function in a public body’s decision-making. Groups whose role is purely advisory, and whose recommendations require no further government action, are not covered.¹

A “meeting” is any official convening of a public body to conduct public business, including sessions where members participate by videoconference. That covers formal votes, workshops, and committee sessions alike; the label the body puts on the gathering does not control.¹

What Falls Outside the Law

Three categories sit entirely outside the statute. Judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings are exempt, with two carve-outs that stay covered: proceedings of the Public Service Commission and of zoning boards of appeals. Private caucus meetings of legislators from the same political party are exempt, regardless of whether they discuss public business, whether the party is in the majority or minority, or whether staff and guests attend. And any matter that federal or state law independently makes confidential is exempt.²

Public Notice

For meetings scheduled at least a week in advance, the body must send notice of the time and place to the news media and post it conspicuously in one or more designated public locations at least 72 hours ahead. For meetings scheduled with less lead time, notice still goes to the media and to public posting locations, but the standard becomes “a reasonable time” beforehand, done “to the extent practicable.” That is a lower bar than 72 hours, but it still calls for genuine effort.³

A public body that maintains a website must also post the notice online when it has the ability to do so. If members will participate by videoconference, the notice must additionally tell the public that video participation is available, explain where to view or join the meeting, identify where required documents will be posted, and give the physical meeting location.⁴

How the Meeting Must Be Conducted

Every meeting must be open to the general public, with the only exception being a properly called executive session. The body must make reasonable efforts to hold meetings in facilities with barrier-free physical access and to choose rooms large enough to accommodate the number of people likely to attend.⁵

The public may photograph, broadcast, webcast, and record open meetings by audio or video. A body can adopt rules on where cameras and equipment sit so proceedings stay orderly, but it cannot prohibit recording. Those rules must be posted during meetings and given to anyone who asks.⁵

Records scheduled for discussion, including proposed resolutions, rules, regulations, or policy amendments, must be made available on request at least 24 hours before the meeting, to the extent practicable. If the body maintains a regularly updated website with a high-speed connection, those records must also be posted online at least 24 hours in advance. Copies may be provided for a reasonable fee, calculated the same way as under the Freedom of Information Law.⁵

Executive Sessions

An executive session is the only lawful way to close part of a meeting. To enter one, the body must take a majority vote of its total membership during the open portion of the meeting, and the motion must identify the general subject area to be discussed. No formal vote to spend public money can be taken during the closed session.⁶

The grounds are limited to eight categories:

Matters that would endanger public safety if disclosed.
Information that could reveal the identity of a law enforcement agent or informer.
Details about current or future criminal investigations or prosecutions where disclosure would undermine effective enforcement.
Proposed, pending, or current litigation.
Collective bargaining negotiations under the Taylor Law.
The medical, financial, credit, or employment history of a specific person or corporation, or matters related to hiring, firing, promotion, demotion, discipline, or suspension of a specific individual.
Preparation, grading, or administration of examinations.
Proposed acquisition, sale, or lease of real property, or acquisition, sale, or exchange of securities, but only when publicity would substantially affect the value.

That list is exhaustive. A body cannot close a meeting for any reason not on it. The motion to go into executive session must identify enough about the general topic that the public understands which category applies, even though the specific details stay confidential. A vague motion citing “personnel matters” without indicating whether the discussion involves employment history, discipline, or a hiring decision is a common source of successful legal challenges.⁶

Minutes and Deadlines

Minutes must be taken at every open meeting and must include a record or summary of all motions, proposals, and resolutions, along with the vote on each. They must be made available to the public within two weeks of the meeting. If the body maintains a regularly updated website, the minutes must be posted there in the same window.⁷

Executive sessions also require minutes, but a narrower set. They need only include a record or summary of the final determination of any action taken by formal vote, with the date and the vote. Anything the Freedom of Information Law would exempt from disclosure does not have to appear. Executive session minutes must be available within one week, tighter than the two-week rule for open meeting minutes. Unabridged video recordings, audio recordings, or written transcripts can substitute for traditional written minutes.⁷

The one-week deadline for executive session minutes matters beyond compliance in the ordinary sense. The statute of limitations for challenging an action taken in executive session does not begin to run until those minutes are made available. A body that delays release effectively keeps its window of legal exposure open.⁸

Videoconferencing and Remote Participation

Section 103-A sets the current framework for videoconferencing by public bodies, and it is scheduled to expire on July 1, 2026. If the legislature does not extend or replace it before then, public bodies will lose the statutory authority to allow members to participate remotely under the present rules.⁴

Until then, a public body may use videoconferencing only if it satisfies several conditions. The governing board of the municipality must adopt a local law, or the public body must pass a resolution, authorizing videoconferencing after a public hearing. The body must establish written procedures for member and public attendance and post them on its website.⁴

A quorum must still be physically present at a location where the public can attend in person. Members are expected to attend in person unless they face “extraordinary circumstances” such as disability, illness, or caregiving responsibilities. A member with a disability that prevents in-person attendance can count toward the quorum remotely, provided the body has authorized this in its written procedures and at least one physical location remains open to the public. Remote participants must be visible, audible, and identifiable to the public during the meeting, except during executive sessions. The meeting must be recorded and posted on the body’s website within five business days, and the recording must remain available for at least five years. Minutes must note which members participated remotely.⁴

During a state disaster emergency declared by the governor or a local state of emergency declared by a county, city, village, or town executive, the in-person quorum requirement can be suspended if the public body determines the emergency makes in-person attendance impossible or impractical. This was the mechanism used extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic.⁴

Enforcement and Remedies

Any aggrieved person can enforce the Open Meetings Law by filing an Article 78 proceeding or an action for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief in state Supreme Court. If the court finds a violation, it can declare that the body violated the law and void the action taken, in whole or in part, while allowing the body to reconsider the matter in compliance. Courts can also order the members of the offending body to attend a training session run by the Committee on Open Government’s staff.⁸

Attorney Fees

In any enforcement proceeding, the court has discretion to award costs and reasonable attorney fees to the successful party. When the court finds that a vote was taken in “material violation” of the law, or that substantial deliberations occurred in private before the vote, attorney fees become mandatory for the successful challenger. The only defense is that the public body had a reasonable basis to believe a closed session was proper.⁸

Limits on Voiding

Not every violation leads to a voided decision. An unintentional failure to fully comply with the notice requirements, standing alone, is not grounds for invalidating actions taken at the meeting. The law also protects bond issues explicitly: the authorization, acquisition, execution, or disposition of bonds or notes cannot be voided under the Open Meetings Law regardless of the violation.⁸

Where to Get Guidance

The New York State Committee on Open Government, housed within the Department of State, interprets and advises on the Open Meetings Law along with the Freedom of Information Law and the Personal Privacy Protection Law. It provides advice by phone, email, written advisory opinions, and training sessions held around the state, and it advises government agencies, the public, and the news media alike.⁹

The Committee’s advisory opinions are not legally binding, but courts regularly reference them in Open Meetings Law disputes, and public bodies that follow the Committee’s guidance are better positioned to argue good faith if challenged. For anyone unsure whether a specific meeting practice complies, a call or email to the Committee is the least expensive place to start.

1
New York State Senate. New York Public Officers Law PBO 102 – Definitions
2
New York State Senate. New York Public Officers Law PBO 108 – Exemptions
3
FindLaw. New York Public Officers Law PBO 104 – Public Notice
4
New York State Senate. New York Public Officers Law Section 103-A – Videoconferencing by Public Bodies
5
New York State Senate. New York Public Officers Law PBO 103 – Open Meetings and Executive Sessions
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New York State Senate. New York Public Officers Law 105 – Conduct of Executive Sessions
7
New York State Senate. New York Public Officers Law Section 106 – Minutes
8
New York State Senate. New York Public Officers Law Section 107 – Enforcement
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