Hearing on open meeting law regs is Jan. 19

The attorney general’s office is seeking public comment on proposed regulations to define the terms “knowing” and ”knowingly” as they relate to intentional violation of the state’s open meeting law.

An “intentional violation” is defined in the law as “an act or omission by a public body or a member thereof, in knowing violation of the open meeting law.”

The proposed regulation would clarify the standard used by the attorney general’s office to determine if a violation was intentional or unintentional. The proposed regulation can be found at www.mass.gov/ago/openmeeting.

A public hearing on the proposed regulation will be held on Jan. 19, 3-5 p.m., at One Ashburton Place, 21st floor, in Boston.

The public is also encouraged to submit written comments to Amy Nable, Director, Division of Open Government, Office of the Attorney General, One Ashburton Place, 20th floor, Boston, MA 02108, or openmeeting@state.ma.us. Comments must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Jan. 19.

At the Dec. 1 meeting of the Open Meeting Law Advisory Commission, members elected Reading Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, the MMA’s representative, as the chair of the commission for 2012. He replaces Loretta Lillios, who steered the commission for its first year and a half.

“I’m honored,” Hechenbleikner said. “The commission is blessed to have excellent members and a very hard-working and dedicated staff to help implement this new law.”

Also at the Dec. 1 meeting, the commission continued to grapple with other regulatory topics under the Division of Open Government’s jurisdiction, including the use of technology in public discussions. The commission agreed to take the issue under advisement and to look into a bill filed by Rep. Dan Winslow to enhance technology in civic engagement.

Lillios will moderate a workshop on complying with the open meeting law at MMA’s Annual Meeting on Jan. 20. Workshop presenters will be Division of Open Government Director Amy Nable and municipal attorney Thomas Urbelis.