(a) (1) Public agency includes any board, commission or comparable unit of government, any of whose members are elected, appointed by I Maga’lahen Guåhan or appointed by I Liheslatura; any non-profit corporation created by one (1) or more public agencies or I Liheslatura, and whose board of directors is appointed by such public agencies or by I Maga’lahen Guåhan or I Liheslatura, and which is formed to acquire, construct, reconstruct, maintain or operate any public work project, or any board, commission, committee or other body on which officers of a public agency serve in their official capacity as members and which is supported in whole or in part by funds provided by such agency, whether such board, commission, committee or other body is organized and operated by such local agency or by a private corporation.

(2) Public agency also includes any advisory commission, advisory committee or advisory body of a public agency, created by law, resolution or any similar formal action of a public agency.

(3) The Legislature is a public agency when it is holding a daily session but meetings of political caucuses composed of members of the Legislature are not required to be conducted in public.

(4) A Committee of a Legislature is a public agency when it is holding a hearing but committee meetings other than hearings are not required to be conducted in public.

(5) (A) Public Notice, as used in this Chapter, means a publication by newspaper of general circulation or by radio or television which is reasonably calculated to provide notice of the facts it announces to the public at large, and by electronic publication on the Guam Public Notice Website.

(B) As used in this item, newspaper of general circulation means a newspaper which is printed and distributed not less than once a week, at regular intervals, throughout the territory of Guam, which has apaid circulation and holds a valid second class mailing permit from the United States Post Office, and which contains news, articles of opinion, features, and other matters of current interest published for public dissemination.

(C) Government entities that access cable channels shall also be required to broadcast public notices on that channel for that respective branch of government.

(b) Meeting means the convening of a governing body of a public agency for which a quorum is required in order to make a decision or to deliberate toward a decision on any matter. Meeting does not include any on-site inspection of any project or program.

(c) Action taken means a collective decision made by a majority of the members of a public agency, a collective commitment or promise by a majority of the members of a public agency to make a positive or a negative decision, or an actual vote by a majority of the members of a public agency when sitting as a body or entity, upon a motion, proposal, resolution or order.

SOURCE: GC § 3228 added by P.L. 13-35; subsection (a)(5) added by P.L. 15-86:1. Subsection (a)(1) amended by P.L. 27-93:1. Subpart (a)(5)(A) amended by P.L. 32-037:2 (June 7, 2013). Subpart (a)(5)(C) added by P.L. 32-037:3 (June 7, 2013).

2012 NOTE: Pursuant to the authority granted by 1 Guam Code Ann. § 1606, numbers and/or letters were altered to adhere to the Compiler’s alpha-numeric scheme.

A.G. OPINION GHPDA 92-1244: Although the foregoing [subsection c] is merely a definition and not substantive law, it seems unlikely that the Legislature would allow circumvention of the Open Government Law by not addressing action taken by less than a majority. Therefore, it is our conclusion that the Legislature intended that action taken by boards be by a majority of the body.