Title 5 — Government Operations

This Chapter may be cited as the Open Government Law of Guam. SOURCE: GC § 3225 added by P.L. 13-035:1 (June 26, 1975) effective 45 days after enactment. A.G. OPINION 77-47: The Open Government Law applies to the elected school board.

I Liheslatura declares it is the policy of Guam that the formation of public policy and decisions is public and shall not be conducted in secret. The people of Guam do not yield their individual rights to the public agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, …

(a) Every meeting of a public agency shall be open and public, and any person shall be permitted to attend any public agency meeting, except as otherwise provided in this Chapter. A member of the public shall not be required, as a condition to attendance at a meeting of a public …

[Renumbered to § 8114.1.] SOURCE: Added by P.L. 36-034:3 (June 11, 2021), renumbered to § 8114.1 pursuant to the authority of 1 GCA § 1606.

(a) “Public agency” includes any board, commission or comparable unit of government, any of whose members are elected, appointed by I Maga’hågan/Maga’låhen Guåhan or appointed by I Liheslatura; any non-profit corporation created by one (1) or more public agencies or I Liheslatura…

A chance meeting of two or more members of a public agency shall not be considered a public meeting. No chance meeting, informal assemblage or electronic communication shall be used to decide or deliberate public business in circumvention of the spirit or requirements of this Cha…

A public agency shall provide by appropriate administrative action rules to govern the conduct of its business. Such rules shall provide for the time for holding an agency’s regular meetings. If at any time a regular meeting falls on a holiday, such regular meeting shall be held …

(a) Notice of Regular Meetings. Any public agency which holds a meeting required by statute, regulation or resolution, shall give five (5) working days public notice, and a second public notice at least forty-eight (48) hours prior to the start of the meeting. The public agency m…

(a) As used in this Section: (1) “Website” means the “Guam Public Notice Website” created under this Section. (b) There is created the “Guam Public Notice Website” to be administered by the Department of Administration. (c) The website shall provide assistance to the public to fi…

A special meeting may be called at any time by a public agency, by delivering personally, or by mail, written notice to each member of a public agency. Notice shall also be given to each newspaper of general circulation and broadcasting station which airs a regular local news pro…

A public agency may adjourn any regular, adjourned regular, special or adjourned special meeting to a time and place specified in the order of adjournment. Less than a quorum may so adjourn from time to time. If all members are absent from any regular or adjourned regular meeting…

Any hearing being held or noticed or ordered to be held by a public agency at any meeting may by order or notice of continuance be continued or recontinued by any subsequent meeting of the public agency in the same manner and to the same extent set forth in § 8109 for the adjourn…

(a) No public agency is prohibited because of this Chapter from holding executive sessions with the Attorney General, Chief of Police or the respective designated representatives of each on a matter which poses a threat to the public health, safety or welfare or from holding exec…

In any event that any person willfully interrupts a meeting of a public agency so that a meeting may not be conducted in an orderly fashion and order cannot be restored by the removal of the person who is willfully interrupting the meeting, the members of the public agency conduc…

The minutes of every meeting of each public agency shall be promptly and fairly recorded, shall be open to public inspection and shall include but not be limited to a record of all motions, proposals and resolutions offered, the results of any votes taken and a record of individu…

The governing Boards and Commissions of all agencies, public corporations, and departments of the government of Guam shall provide electronic copies of the monthly Board and Commission meeting agendas, approved minutes, and other attachments and addendums as discussed in each mon…

Any action taken at a meeting in violation of any Section of this Chapter shall be void and of no effect, provided that this nullification of actions taken at such meetings shall not apply to any commitment, otherwise legal, affecting the public debt of the entity concerned. SOUR…

Any action of a public agency taken at a meeting is void and of no effect if the public agency failed to comply with the public notice of agenda matters to be discussed pursuant to § 8107(d) of this Chapter or failed to comply with the broadcasting requirement pursuant to § 8103(…

(a) The Superior Court shall have jurisdiction to enforce any action brought as a result of a violation of this Chapter. Any person shall have standing to sue for the enforcement of this Chapter. (b) Each member of a public agency who attends a meeting of a public agency where ac…

If any provision of this Chapter or the application of any Section thereof, to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of said Chapter and the application of such provisions to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. SOURCE:…