A fundamental tenet of democracy is openness of government. The more open and available the government is, the greater the public’s confidence and participation in government will be. This is the foundation of the FOIA. It is also the basis of he Government in the Sunshine Act, which generally requires that agency meetings be open to public observation.

The act applies only to “collegial” agencies—that is, agencies that are headed by more than one person. There is no requirement that a single agency head make his or her deliberations public. Agencies do not have to conduct open meetings if such meetings will result in the disclosure of specific types of information. The matters exempted are similar to those exempted from the coverage of the FOIA—in fact, many are identical.

The district courts of the United States are vested with the jurisdiction to review claims brought under the Sunshine Act. Venue lies in the district in which the agency meeting is held, in the district where the agency has its headquarters, or in the District of Columbia.

Every agency must report to Congress annually. A tabulation of the total number of public agencies, the number of closed meetings, the reasons for closing those meetings, and all related litigation must be included in that report. The Government in the Sunshine Act requires that agency meetings be conducted in public. A number of advisory committees in the federal government are not administrative, and not included in the Sunshine Act.