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What counts as a meeting in Rhode Island: quorum, work sessions and email

Short answer

In Rhode Island, a meeting is the convening of a public body to discuss or act on its business, and the law says that includes work sessions. The Attorney General reads the Act to apply when a quorum gathers: a simple majority of the members, unless other law sets a different number. Members may use email or phone to schedule a meeting, but no message chain or private gathering may be used to get around the Act.(R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 42-46-2(1), 42-46-2(6), 42-46-5(b); Attorney General 2023 Annual Report)

This guide explains the law in plain words; it is not legal advice. For a question about your board, ask your town or city solicitor.
By Clarivis · Checked against R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 42-46-2, 42-46-3, 42-46-4(a), 42-46-5(b), 42-46-6(b) and (c), and 42-46-7(a) on Tue, Oct 20, 2026.

Where this fits in your meeting cycle: Clarivis is software that helps a committee follow these steps: it checks each agenda item, emails a reminder before the minutes deadline and drafts the minutes for your secretary or clerk to correct and approve; it does not post or file anything for you.

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Questions on this page

What is a meeting under the Act?

A meeting is the convening of a public body to discuss or act on something within its responsibility. Every meeting is open to the public unless it is closed under the executive session rules.

Statute text

“Meeting” means the convening of a public body to discuss and/or act upon a matter over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction, or advisory power. As used herein, the term “meeting” expressly includes, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, so-called “workshop,” “working,” or “work” sessions.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-2(1)

Statute text

“Every meeting of all public bodies shall be open to the public unless closed pursuant to §§ 42-46-4 and 42-46-5.”

R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-3

Two words in the definition do most of the work. "Discuss" means a meeting does not need a vote; talking about the board's business is enough. "Advisory power" means a body that only makes recommendations can still hold a meeting.

For closing part of a meeting, see the executive session guide.

Does a work session or workshop count?

Yes. The statute names them: a "workshop", "working" or "work" session is a meeting. It needs the same notice and the same minutes as any other meeting. Calling a gathering a retreat, a briefing or an informal discussion does not change that if the board convenes to discuss its business.

For what the notice must say, see the notice guide.

What is a quorum?

Statute text

“Quorum,” unless otherwise defined by applicable law, means a simple majority of the membership of a public body.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-2(6)

"Of the membership" means the board's membership, not the members who happen to attend. On a seven-member board, a simple majority is four.

"Unless otherwise defined by applicable law" matters. A board's own statute, the town charter or an ordinance may set a different number. If you are not sure which number applies to your board, ask your solicitor.

Why does quorum matter?

Quorum is what brings the Act into play. The Attorney General's office reads the Act to apply only when a quorum of a public body convenes; its 2023 findings repeatedly turn on whether a quorum ever formed. The definition of "meeting" itself does not use the word.

That has two consequences people often get backwards:

  • Fewer than a quorum talking is generally not a meeting. Two members of a five-member board discussing an item over coffee does not, by itself, trigger the Act. A chain of such conversations can (see rolling quorums below), and email and messages follow a stricter rule (see below).
  • A vote taken without a quorum is a question for other law. The Act does not say a board must have a quorum to vote. Whether a vote taken below quorum is valid depends on the board's own statute, charter, ordinance and rules. Ask your solicitor.

What the Act does require at every meeting is a record of who was there:

Statute text

“The minutes shall include, but need not be limited to: (1) The date, time, and place of the meeting; (2) The members of the public body recorded as either present or absent”

R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-7(a)

Some votes the Act requires call for a majority of the members: adding an item to the agenda (§ 42-46-6(b)), calling an emergency meeting (§ 42-46-6(c)) and going into executive session (§ 42-46-4(a), "majority of its members"). Whether that means all the members or only those present is not settled (see the list below).

Can members discuss board business by email, text or phone?

The Act forbids using email, phone or private gatherings to get around it. In our reading, texts and messaging apps are electronic communication.

Statute text

“No meeting of members of a public body or use of electronic communication, including telephonic communication and telephone conferencing, shall be used to circumvent the spirit or requirements of this chapter; provided, however, these meetings and discussions are not prohibited.”

R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-5(b)

Statute text

“Provided, further however, that discussions of a public body via electronic communication, including telephonic communication and telephone conferencing, shall be permitted only to schedule a meeting, except as provided in this subsection.”

R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-5(b)(1)

In practice, the safe course for members between meetings:

  • Use email to settle a date, time or place, and nothing more.
  • Send information to the chair, secretary or clerk, who includes it in the meeting packet, rather than to the whole board.
  • Do not "reply all" with views on an item the board will decide. Save it for the meeting, where the public can hear it.
  • If someone starts a discussion by email, do not answer on the thread. Say it belongs at the next meeting.

Of the exceptions in the same subsection, two can apply to a town board: a member on active duty in the armed services (§ 42-46-5(b)(2)) and a member with a disability who receives a waiver (§ 42-46-5(b)(3)–(4)). The others are for two named state boards. All are about taking part in a meeting remotely, not discussing business between meetings. See the remote participation guide.

What is a rolling quorum?

"Rolling quorum" is not a term in the statute. It describes a series of conversations, each between fewer than a quorum, that together reach a quorum of the board: A talks to B, B talks to C, C emails D, and by the meeting a majority has already settled the question in private.

In its 2023 annual report (guidance, not law), the office addressed an alleged rolling quorum in five findings: it found none in four and did not need to decide the fifth. Where a summary gives a reason, it is that a quorum never formed or never took part in a collective discussion. In our reading, a rolling quorum is what § 42-46-5(b) forbids: using members' meetings or electronic communication "to circumvent the spirit or requirements of this chapter".

The safe course is the same as for email: one member may talk to another, but members should not carry a board member's views to the rest of the board.

What if members attend another group's event or meeting?

Being in the same place is not, by itself, a meeting in our reading: the definition turns on a public body convening "to discuss and/or act upon" its business. The risk is members who make up a quorum discussing their own board's business together while they are there. When an outside or social gathering becomes a meeting is not settled (see the list below).

The safe course: at a conference, a ribbon cutting or another board's meeting, members do not discuss among themselves an item their own board will decide.

Does a subcommittee have its own quorum?

Usually. The definition of public body includes "any subdivision thereof", so a subcommittee is generally a public body itself, and its quorum is a simple majority of its own membership unless other law sets a different number.

Statute text

“Public body” means any department, agency, commission, committee, board, council, bureau, or authority, or any subdivision thereof, of state or municipal government

R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-46-2(5)

So a quorum of the subcommittee convening to discuss its work is generally a meeting of the subcommittee, with its own notice and minutes.

Checklist

Some items are the safe course, not the statute's words.

Between meetings

  • Email and phone among members only to schedule a meeting.
  • Information for the board goes to the chair, secretary or clerk for the packet, not to everyone.
  • No "reply all" with views on business the board will decide.
  • No chain of one-to-one conversations that reaches a majority on an item.

Before a work session, retreat or workshop

  • Noticed like any other meeting, with the business described.
  • Minutes will be kept.

At the meeting

  • Every member recorded present or absent.
  • Count the members present against your board's quorum before business that needs a vote.
  • For an added agenda item, an emergency meeting or an executive session, the safer course is to count the votes against all the members.

At another group's event

  • Members do not discuss their own board's business together.

What the law does not settle

Questions to take to your town or city solicitor; this guide does not answer them.

  • Whether a vote taken with fewer than a quorum present is valid for your board, and how it could be challenged.
  • Whether "a majority of the members" in the Act's voting rules means the full membership or those present.
  • Whether a one-way email from the chair or clerk to every member, with no replies, is a "discussion".
  • Whether an email or call among fewer than a quorum is a "discussion of a public body".
  • Whether a vacant seat counts toward "the membership".
  • Whether a given working group or subcommittee is a public body at all, and what applies when a subcommittee is itself a quorum of the parent board.
  • When a social gathering of a quorum becomes a meeting.
  • Which quorum number applies when the charter, an ordinance and the board's own rules disagree.

How Clarivis helps

Clarivis does not see email between members and does not check for rolling quorums. At the meeting itself, it helps the record show who was there.

  • Your quorum, set in Settings. A new committee's quorum reads Not evaluated until a person enters the number; a Committee Admin or the Clerk sets it in Settings, then Committee. Clarivis never works it out from the law.
  • Attendance against that number. The meeting's Overview shows how many voting members were present against that number.
  • No guessing when attendance is incomplete. Quorum reads Not evaluated while the attendance recorded so far cannot settle it.
  • A plain record when quorum was short. If fewer were present than the quorum and a motion or vote was still recorded, the meeting's Compliance step shows the two numbers.
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