Texas meeting notices and agendas: what to post, where, and when

This guide explains the law in plain words; it is not legal advice. For a question about your board, ask your city attorney.
By Clarivis · Checked against Tex. Gov't Code §§ 311.022, 311.031, 551.001, 551.041 to 551.056, 551.0411, 551.101, 551.127(c) and 662.003, Tex. Loc. Gov't Code § 211.0075, H.B. 1522 (2025), and 49 C.F.R. §§ 71.7(e), 71.8 on Sat, Oct 24, 2026.

Where is the notice posted, and how far ahead?

The notice goes on a physical or electronic bulletin board at city hall at least 3 business days before the meeting date, where the public can readily see it.

When the city has a website, the city council also posts each meeting's notice and agenda there at the same time. Other city boards post at city hall only: the website rule leaves out a board with rulemaking or quasi-judicial power, and a board without that power is not covered at all. The two exceptions under "Which city bodies does the notice cover?" also post on the website: a board set up to help develop the city's first zoning plan or regulations, and a committee on which a quorum of the council sits, whose meetings are council meetings.

How are the business days counted?

Chapter 551 does not define "business day"; Monday to Friday less the national and state holidays of Gov't Code § 662.003 is counted, and a holiday that falls on a weekend is not moved. If the city is closed on another weekday, count that day out too and post a day earlier.

Worked deadlines:

When the last day to post falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the notice must be up at city hall (and, for the city council, on the website) by the end of that day; a city that cannot post at city hall on a weekend posts by the Friday before.

Meetings in El Paso and Hudspeth counties keep Mountain time (49 C.F.R. §§ 71.7(e), 71.8).

Isn't the notice deadline 72 hours?

Not for a meeting held from September 5, 2025. Until August 31, 2025, the notice had to be posted at least 72 hours before the scheduled time of the meeting. A 2025 law, H.B. 1522, changed this from September 1, 2025 to at least 3 business days before the scheduled date of the meeting (§ 551.043(a)). For a meeting held September 1 to 4, 2025, that new deadline had already passed when the law took effect, so Clarivis judges those meetings, like every earlier one, by the 72-hour text (§ 551.043(a) (text in force until August 31, 2025)); from September 5, 2025 it applies the three-business-day rule.

What must the notice say?

The notice gives the date, hour, place and subject of the meeting.

The notice of a meeting at which the board will discuss or adopt its budget must also include a physical copy of the proposed budget, unless it is clearly accessible on the home page of the city's website, and a taxpayer impact statement. (§ 551.043(c), (c-1))

What if someone raises a subject that is not on the notice?

If someone at the meeting asks about a subject that is not on the notice, the board may answer with specific facts or by stating existing policy. Any discussion of or decision on that subject is limited to a proposal to put it on the agenda of a later meeting. (§ 551.042)

Which city bodies does the notice cover?

The city council is always covered. Another committee is covered if it can make rules or decide particular cases, such as a variance, an appeal or a plat. A committee that only studies and recommends is not covered, with two exceptions. A board or commission the council set up by ordinance or resolution to help develop the city's first comprehensive zoning plan or zoning regulations is covered, and so is a committee of it that includes one of its members (§ 211.0075). If a quorum of the city council sits on a committee, its meetings are meetings of the council: record them under the city council. (§ 551.001(4)(A))

What about an emergency meeting?

For an emergency meeting, notice must be posted at least 1 hour before the meeting is convened. (§ 551.045(a))

The notice clearly names the emergency or urgent public necessity, and the meeting may take up only matters directly related to responding to it, and any item that was on the meeting's notice before the emergency was added. (§ 551.045(a-1), (b), (c))

If a member of the news media has filed a request for this notice at the board's headquarters and agreed to reimburse its cost, the presiding officer, or the member who calls the emergency meeting or adds the emergency item, notifies that member of the media by telephone, fax or email at least one hour before the meeting is convened. (§ 551.047)

An emergency item may also be added to a meeting already noticed, by a supplemental notice posted at least 1 hour before the meeting is convened; it names the emergency, and the same limits apply. (§ 551.045(a))

An emergency or urgent public necessity exists only if immediate action is required because of an imminent threat to public health and safety, or a reasonably unforeseeable situation such as a fire, flood, storm, power failure, epidemic or riot.

What if the board meets only to go into a closed meeting?

A meeting held only to go into a closed meeting is still a "meeting" (§ 551.001(4)(A), "a deliberation between a quorum of a governmental body ... during which public business or public policy ... is discussed or considered") and owes the § 551.043(a) notice. If the closed meeting is part of an emergency meeting, the emergency notice, posted at least 1 hour before the meeting is convened, applies instead (§ 551.045(a)), and the presiding officer still announces the closed meeting in the open meeting and names the section or sections that allow it (§ 551.101). In Clarivis, choose Emergency as the Meeting type.

Does a recessed meeting need a new notice?

No, if the board in good faith recesses an open meeting to the following regular business day, and not to get around the Act.

Checklist before each meeting

• Notice must be posted at least 3 business days before the meeting.
• If the city is closed on another weekday, count that day out too and post a day earlier.
• The notice must also state the date, hour, place and subject; when the city has a website, the city council's notice and agenda also go there.
• For an emergency meeting: notice posted at least 1 hour before the meeting is convened, naming the emergency.
• For an emergency meeting or emergency item: any news media that filed a request and agreed to reimburse its cost notified by telephone, fax or email at least one hour before the meeting is convened.

What the law does not settle

These are questions to take to your city attorney; this guide does not answer them.

• Which days are business days. Chapter 551 does not define the term; Clarivis counts Monday to Friday less the national and state holidays of Gov't Code § 662.003, the earlier deadline, even for a city that stays open on a state holiday.
• Whether the three business days must be three full days before the meeting date, as Clarivis counts them, or may include the day the notice is posted.
• Which rule applies to a meeting held from September 1 to 4, 2025, whose three-business-day deadline had passed before H.B. 1522 took effect; the 72-hour rule is the better reading, and the one Clarivis applies (§ 311.022; § 311.031(a)).
• Whether a city that closes on a weekday next to a weekend holiday must leave that day out; Clarivis counts it, and this guide says to post a day earlier.
• What counts as quasi-judicial power; Clarivis reads it as deciding particular cases, such as a variance, an appeal or a plat.
• Whether a board set up to help develop the city's first zoning plan or regulations must also post on the city's website, as this guide reads the law; Clarivis does not ask it for the link.
• Whether the rule letting the public speak on each agenda item reaches a board set up to help develop the city's first zoning plan or regulations that has no rulemaking or quasi-judicial power.
• Whether a committee that only advises is covered when the council adopts its advice without a review of its own, and whether the city's charter or ordinances open a committee's meetings; Attorney General opinions and city charters were not reviewed for this guide.
• Whether a city that extends into three or more counties may meet by videoconference with only the presiding member physically present (§ 551.127(c)).
• Whether a situation is an emergency or urgent public necessity; the board states the reason, and Clarivis does not judge it.

How Clarivis helps

Related guides

This guide for other states

• Connecticut
• Massachusetts
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Vermont

Sources

• Tex. Gov't Code ch. 551, open meetings: tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/GV/htm/GV.551.htm
• Tex. Gov't Code ch. 662, holidays: tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/GV/htm/GV.662.htm
• Tex. Loc. Gov't Code ch. 211, municipal zoning authority: tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/LG/htm/LG.211.htm