Public comment at committee meetings

[Guest Deva Weber]

Is a person at a committee meeting that is not resident of a specific taxpayer area have the right to address the committee on issues brought to the committee.

[Gary Novosielski]

What sort of committee is this?  You mention taxpayers; is this a public body of some sort?

In general, if you are not a member of a committee you have no right to attend or address the committee but things can be different if you're talking about a governmental body.

So please expand your question a bit.  What's the situation, what do you want the situation to be?

Edited June 11, 2023 at 12:37 AM by Gary Novosielski

[Rob Elsman]

Nothing in RONR (12th ed.) gives a guest at a committee meeting a right to speak; in fact, persons who are not members of the committee in question do not even have a right to be present at committee meetings.

[Josh Martin]

On 6/10/2023 at 7:15 PM, Guest Deva Weber said:

Is a person at a committee meeting that is not resident of a specific taxpayer area have the right to address the committee on issues brought to the committee.

No rule in RONR would grant anyone except members of the committee the right to speak or even to be present at meetings of the committee. Such matters would be at the committee's discretion.

The reference to a "resident of a specific taxpayer area," however, makes me suspect this is some sort of public body. It may well be that the organization's rules and/or applicable law grant persons who are not members of the committee a right to attend meetings and, in certain circumstances, to speak at the meetings. You will have to refer to those rules to answer your question. RONR has very little to say on such matters.

"In meetings of many public bodies, such as school boards, the public may attend. Similarly, in some private organizations such as church councils, parishioners may be permitted to attend. These attendees are not members of the meeting body and ordinarily have no right to participate. Some bodies, especially public ones, may invite nonmembers to express their views, but this is done under the control of the presiding officer subject to any relevant rules adopted by the body and subject to appeal by a member. Often, by rule or practice, time limits are placed on speakers and relevance is closely monitored." RONR (12th ed.) 9:29

Edited June 11, 2023 at 03:23 PM by Josh Martin