§ 44-04-20 — Notice of public meetings required - Exceptions - Schedule set by statute, ordinance, or resolution

ordinance, or resolution.
1. Unless otherwise provided by law, public notice must be given in advance of all
meetings of a public entity as defined in section 44-04-17.1, including executive
sessions and meetings held remotely. Unless otherwise specified by law, resolution, or
ordinance, or as decided by the public entity, notices required by this section need not
be published.
2. The notice required in this section must contain the date, time, and location of the
meeting and, if practicable, the topics to be considered. However, the lack of an
agenda in the notice, or a departure from, or an addition to, the agenda at a meeting,
does not affect the validity of the meeting or the actions taken thereat. The notice also
must contain the general subject matter of any executive session expected to be held
during the meeting. For meetings to be held by electronic means, the location of the
meeting is the electronic address and any other information necessary to allow the
public to join or view the electronic meeting as required under section 44-04-19.
3. If the governing body holds regularly scheduled meetings, the schedule of these
meetings, including the aforementioned notice information, if available, must be filed
annually with the secretary of state for state-level bodies or for public entities defined
in subdivision c of subsection 13 of section 44-04-17.1, the city auditor or designee of
the city for city-level bodies, and the county auditor or designee of the county for all
other bodies or the schedule must be posted on the public entity's website. This
schedule must be furnished to anyone who requests the information. When
reasonable and practicable, a governing body of a public entity should attempt to set a
regular schedule for its meetings by statute, ordinance, or resolution. This subsection
does not apply to meetings of the legislative assembly or any committee thereof. Filing
a yearly schedule of upcoming meetings does not relieve a public entity from its
obligation to post an agenda for each meeting as required in subsections 2 and 4.
4. The notice required in this section must be posted at the principal office of the
governing body holding the meeting, if such exists, and at the location of the meeting
on the day of the meeting. In addition, unless all the information contained in the notice
was previously filed with the appropriate office under subsection 3, the notice must be
filed in the office of the secretary of state for state-level bodies or for public entities
defined in subdivision c of subsection 13 of section 44-04-17.1, the city auditor or
designee of the city for city-level bodies, the county auditor or designee of the county
for all other bodies. If the public entity has a website, notice also must be posted on
the public entity's website. This subsection does not apply to meetings of the
legislative assembly or any committee thereof.
5. The governing body's presiding officer has the responsibility of assuring that public
notice of a meeting's date, time, and location, is given at the same time as such
governing body's members are notified, and that this notice is available to anyone
requesting such information. As soon as an agenda is prepared for a meeting with the
information required in subsection 2 and given to members of the governing body, the
agenda must be posted at the locations as required by subsection 4 and given to
anyone requesting the information. When a request is made for notice of meetings, the
request is effective for one year unless a different time period is specified.
6. In the event of emergency or special meetings of a governing body, the person calling
such a meeting shall, in addition to the notices in subsection 4, also notify the public
entity's official newspaper, if any, and any representatives of the news media which
have requested to be so notified of such special or emergency meetings, of the time,
place, date, and topics to be considered at the same time as such governing body's
members are notified. If the public entity does not have an official newspaper, then it
must notify the official newspaper of the county where its principal office or mailing

address is located. Topics that may be considered at an emergency or special meeting
are limited to those included in the notice.
7. A committee of an institution under the authority of the state board of higher education,
in lieu of the notice requirements in this section, may file in the office of the president
of the institution the name, address, and telephone number of a person who may be
contacted to obtain specific times, dates, and locations of any meetings of that
committee or to request specific notification of each meeting of that committee.
8. The attorney general shall prepare general guidelines to assist public entities in
following the provisions of this section.
9. This section is violated when a notice is not provided in substantial compliance with
this section.