00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 11                                                                     
01 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to open                                      
02 meetings.                                                                                                               
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04    * Section 1.  INTENT.  (a)  The purpose of the amendment to art. II, Constitution of the State                     
05 of Alaska, proposed in sec. 2 of this resolution is to make openness in government the rule and                         
06 secrecy the exception.  The amendment ensures that the public is not excluded during the                                
07 substantive deliberative and decision-making stages of the budgetary and lawmaking process.                             
08       (b)  This amendment is not intended to prevent the free flow of ideas among legislators                           
09 or their participation in public forums, community events, site visitations, or social events.                          
10       (c)  In the preparation of the neutral summary under AS 15.58.020(6)(C), the Legislative                          
11 Affairs Agency shall consider the statement of legislative intent contained in (a) and (b) of this                      
12 section.                                                                                                              
13    * Sec. 2.  Article II, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended by adding a new section                     
14 to read:                                                                                                                
15            Section 22.  Meetings Open.  (a)  Unless the legislature or a committee of the                             
16       legislature is meeting in executive session to consider matters authorized by law to be                           

01       considered in executive session, the discussions and debates of each house of the                                 
02       legislature and its committees shall be open to the public.                                                       
03            (b)  Except as provided in (a) of this section, private and substantive discussions                          
04       and debates on legislation under the legislature's jurisdiction by a quorum of a house of                         
05       the legislature or a quorum of a committee are prohibited.  A court may not prescribe                             
06       rules or procedures for the conduct of legislative business or invalidate legislation                             
07       because of a violation of this section.  Notwithstanding Section 6 of this article, a court                       
08       may impose a civil fine in an amount authorized by law upon a member of the                                       
09       legislature for a wilful violation of this section and may impose other sanctions or                              
10       remedies authorized by law.                                                                                       
11            (c)  The legislature shall implement this section.                                                           
12    * Sec. 3.  The amendment proposed by this resolution shall be placed before the voters of                          
13 the state at the next general election in conformity with art. XIII, sec. 1, Constitution of the                        
14 State of Alaska, and the election laws of the state.