Texas Attorney General
Opinion Issued:
Public Comments at Open Meetings
(KP-0300)
Provisions of 2019’s HB2840 — that require certain governmental bodies (including ISD school boards) to allow public comment on an item on the agenda either before or during the body’s consideration of the item — may be met by holding a single public comment period at the beginning of the open meeting to address all items on the agenda.
The governmental body can also adopt reasonable rules that could include capping the total amount of time a member of the public can address the body.
The opinion was requested by the Blanco County attorney, who asked if HB2840 required the county’s commissioner to allow a speaker to address the court before each individual item on the court’s agenda was to be considered, such as occurred when one speaker wanted to speak on 17 individual agenda items.