Delaware House Bill 359 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: Introduced on May 4 2016 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2016-05-04 - Introduced and Assigned to House Administration Committee in House
Pending: House Administration Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

This bill expressly provides that, for purposes of the Freedom of Information Act, a member of a public body must appear in person or by video-conferencing, rather than by proxy. As with the common law rule regarding voting by proxy for municipal and charitable corporations, membership in a public body is coupled with no pecuniary interest and is of the nature of a personal trust. See, e.g., Walker v. Johnson, 17 App. D.C. 144, 162, (D.C. Cir. 1900). The right to vote is committed to the discretion of the member of the public body as an individual and should not be susceptible to exercise through delegation.

An Act To Amend Title 29 Of The Delaware Code Relating To The Freedom Of Information Act.

Rep. Kimberly Williams [D]	Sen. Karen Peterson [D]	Rep. Paul Baumbach [D]	Rep. Stephanie Bolden [D]
Rep. Ruth Briggs King [R]	Rep. Ruth Briggs King [R]	Rep. Helene Keeley [D]	Rep. John Kowalko [D]
Sen. Catherine Cloutier [R]	Sen. Gregory Lavelle [R]

Date	Chamber	Action
2016-05-04	House	Introduced and Assigned to House Administration Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/c3fda2bdc4b4270585257f9b0069c7a1?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+359/$file/legis.html?open