H 4836 General Bill, By Sinclair, Harrison, J.E. Smith, Norman, Talley, Edge, 
Ceips, McCraw and Rivers
 A BILL TO AMEND SECTION 30-4-70, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
 1976, RELATING TO MEETINGS WHICH MAY BE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC PURSUANT TO THE
 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, SO AS TO REQUIRE THAT A PUBLIC BODY HOLDING A
 MEETING CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC PREPARE AND ATTACH TO THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING
 AN AFFIDAVIT IDENTIFYING THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE OR PURPOSES OF THE CLOSED
 MEETING AND CERTIFYING THAT NO OTHER TOPICS WERE DISCUSSED NOR WAS ANY ACTION
 TAKEN IN THE CLOSED MEETING, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE PRESIDING OFFICIAL TO
 ADMINISTER OATHS FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXECUTING THE AFFIDAVIT REQUIRED; AND TO
 AMEND SECTION 30-4-90, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE MINUTES OF A MEETING HELD
 PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, SO AS TO INCLUDE THE REQUIREMENT
 OF AN AFFIDAVIT PROVIDED PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 30-4-70.

   03/15/06  House  Introduced and read first time HJ-103
   03/15/06  House  Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-104

TO AMEND SECTION 30-4-70, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO MEETINGS WHICH MAY BE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, SO AS TO REQUIRE THAT A PUBLIC BODY HOLDING A MEETING CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC PREPARE AND ATTACH TO THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING AN AFFIDAVIT IDENTIFYING THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE OR PURPOSES OF THE CLOSED MEETING AND CERTIFYING THAT NO OTHER TOPICS WERE DISCUSSED NOR WAS ANY ACTION TAKEN IN THE CLOSED MEETING, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE PRESIDING OFFICIAL TO ADMINISTER OATHS FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXECUTING THE AFFIDAVIT REQUIRED; AND TO AMEND SECTION 30-4-90, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE MINUTES OF A MEETING HELD PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, SO AS TO INCLUDE THE REQUIREMENT OF AN AFFIDAVIT PROVIDED PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 30-4-70.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Section 30-4-70 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Section 5, Part IV, Act 153 of 2005, is further amended by adding:

"(g)(1)    If a meeting of a public body is closed to the public pursuant to this section, all members of the public body attending the closed meeting shall execute an affidavit, under oath, on the form as provided in this section and, upon pain of perjury, that the subject matter of the portion of the meeting closed to the public was for the identified specific purpose or purposes stated at the commencement of the closed meeting and that no vote nor poll or action was taken in the closed meeting. The affidavit must be included as an attachment to the minutes of the meeting.

The form of notice required pursuant to this section must be substantially as follows:

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA    )    AFFIDAVIT REGARDING

)    CLOSURE OF

COUNTY OF _______________    )    PUBLIC MEETING

Personally appeared before the undersigned officer, duly authorized under the laws of the State of South Carolina to administer oaths, [insert names of persons signing affidavit], who attended a meeting of [insert name of public body] which was closed to the public, and, after being duly sworn certify under oath and state upon personal knowledge the following:

At its meeting held on [insert date], the [insert name of public body] voted in public session to go into a meeting closed to the public and the presiding officer stated in public that the specific purpose of the closed meeting was as follows:

INITIAL A PURPOSE AS STATED IN THE PUBLIC SESSION

( )        Discussion of employment of an individual.

( )        Discussion of appointment of an individual.

( )        Discussion of compensation of an individual.

( )        Discussion of promotion of an individual.

( )        Discussion of demotion of an individual.

( )        Discussion of discipline of an individual.

( )        Discussion of negotiations incident to proposed contractual arrangements.

( )        Discussion of the proposed sale or purchase of property.

( )        Receipt of legal advice where the legal advice relates to a pending, threatened, or potential claim or other matters covered by the attorney-client privilege.

( )        Discussion of the settlement of legal claims, or the position of the public agency in other adversary situations involving the assertion against the agency of a claim.

( )        Discussion regarding the development of security personnel or devices.

( )        Investigative proceedings regarding allegations of criminal misconduct.

( )        Discussion of matters relating to the proposed location, expansion, or the provision of services encouraging location or expansion of industries or other business in the area served by the public body.

I hereby certify upon penalty of perjury that except for the topic disclosed above, no portion of the meeting closed to the public involved discussion of any other topic, no vote was taken, no poll was taken and no action was taken. Any person willfully giving false or misleading or incomplete information on this form is guilty of a misdemeanor pursuant to the provisions of Section 16-9-10(B)(2), Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976.

By ________________________________

SWORN and subscribed to before me

this day _____ of _________, ______.

_____________________________(L.S.)

Notary Public for South Carolina

or Presiding Official

My commission expires _____________.

(2)    The presiding official of any public meeting may administer oaths as if the presiding officer were a notary public for the purpose of execution of the affidavit required under this section concerning the purpose of the discussion held during the portion of the meeting from which the public was excluded."

SECTION 2.    Section 30-4-90(a) of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"(5)    The affidavit executed by members attending a meeting closed to the public as provided in Section 30-4-70(g)."

SECTION    3.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.