TITLE 1: GOVERNMENT
DIVISION 9: MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
§ 9901. Legislative Declaration. The legislature finds and declares that all public commissions, boards, councils, committees, subcommittees, departments, divisions, offices, and all other public agencies of this Commonwealth exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business. It is the intent of this chapter that their actions be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly. The people of the Commonwealth do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created. The provisions requiring open meetings and open records shall be liberally construed, and the provisions providing for exceptions to the open meeting requirements and open records requirements shall be strictly construed against closed meetings and nondisclosure of records. Source: PL 8-41, § 2. Commission Comment: PL 8-41, the “Open Government Act of 1992,” took effect January 21, 1994. For related provisions concerning public access to agency hearings and records, see the Administrative Procedure Act, 1 CMC § 9101 et seq.