Online and video meetings in Texas: quorum, notice, recording and dropped connections
Short answer
A Texas board may meet by videoconference call only if a quorum is physically present at one location, which the notice names (a body that extends into three or more counties has a different rule). A member who joins by video is counted as present, and the public must see and hear the open portions at that place. The board makes at least an audio recording and makes it available to the public.(Tex. Gov't Code § 551.127(b); Tex. Gov't Code § 551.127(a-2), (a-3), (g); Tex. Gov't Code § 551.127(d), (e); Tex. Gov't Code § 551.127(g))
Where this fits in your meeting cycle: Clarivis is software that helps a city board follow these steps: it counts each meeting's notice deadline in business days (one hour for an emergency meeting), records the posting, with its link on the municipal website for the city council, flags a closed meeting item until a Statutory basis is selected, and drafts the minutes for your board to correct and approve; it does not post the notice for you, and it does not check what the notice says, the remote-attendance rules or members' training.
See how Clarivis helpsQuestions on this page
Can a board meet by video?
Yes. The Act does not stop a body from meeting by videoconference, open or closed, and a member or employee may take part remotely if the feed is shown live at the meeting:
Statute text
“(a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, this chapter does not prohibit a governmental body from holding an open or closed meeting by videoconference call. (a-1) A member or employee of a governmental body may participate remotely in a meeting of the governmental body by means of a videoconference call if the video and audio feed of the member's or employee's participation, as applicable, is broadcast live at the meeting and complies with the provisions of this section.”
A member who takes part this way is counted:
Statute text
“(a-2) A member of a governmental body who participates in a meeting as provided by Subsection (a-1) shall be counted as present at the meeting for all purposes.”
Section 551.127 lists no reason a member must give for joining remotely and does not require the board to adopt a policy first; check whether your charter or the board's own rules add conditions.
Joining by telephone alone is not a videoconference call. The Act allows a meeting by telephone conference call only in an emergency or urgent public necessity when a quorum cannot readily meet in one place, or for an advisory board (§ 551.125(b)).
Where must the members be?
A quorum must be physically present at one location:
Statute text
“A meeting may be held by videoconference call only if a quorum of the governmental body is physically present at one location of the meeting, except as provided by Subsection (c).”
Subsection (c) gives a state body, or a body that extends into three or more counties, a different rule:
Statute text
“(c) A meeting of a state governmental body or a governmental body that extends into three or more counties may be held by videoconference call only if the member of the governmental body presiding over the meeting is physically present at one location of the meeting that is open to the public during the open portions of the meeting.”
What does the notice say?
A video meeting needs the usual notice and more:
Statute text
“(d) A meeting held by videoconference call is subject to the notice requirements applicable to other meetings in addition to the notice requirements prescribed by this section. (e) The notice of a meeting to be held by videoconference call must specify as a location of the meeting the location where a quorum of the governmental body will be physically present and specify the intent to have a quorum present at that location, except that the notice of a meeting to be held by videoconference call under Subsection (c) must specify as a location of the meeting the location where the member of the governmental body presiding over the meeting will be physically present and specify the intent to have the member of the governmental body presiding over the meeting present at that location. The location where the member of the governmental body presiding over the meeting is physically present shall be open to the public during the open portions of the meeting.”
See the notice and agenda guide for the rest of the notice rules.
How does the public attend?
The public watches at the meeting place. Each open portion must be visible and audible there:
Statute text
“(f) Each portion of a meeting held by videoconference call that is required to be open to the public shall be visible and audible to the public at the location specified under Subsection (e). If a problem occurs that causes a meeting to no longer be visible and audible to the public at that location, the meeting must be recessed until the problem is resolved. If the problem is not resolved in six hours or less, the meeting must be adjourned.”
Every place a member joins from must see and hear every other:
Statute text
“(h) The location specified under Subsection (e), and each remote location from which a member of the governmental body participates, shall have two-way audio and video communication with each other location during the entire meeting.”
The board may also let a member of the public speak from a remote place:
Statute text
“(k) Without regard to whether a member of the governmental body is participating in a meeting from a remote location by videoconference call, a governmental body may allow a member of the public to testify at a meeting from a remote location by videoconference call.”
What record is kept?
Statute text
“(g) The governmental body shall make at least an audio recording of the meeting. The recording shall be made available to the public.”
See the minutes guide for the minutes and recording of an open meeting.
What if a connection fails?
A member whose connection drops is treated as absent for that time:
Statute text
“(a-3) A member of a governmental body who participates in a meeting by videoconference call shall be considered absent from any portion of the meeting during which audio or video communication with the member is lost or disconnected. The governmental body may continue the meeting only if a quorum of the body remains present at the meeting location or, if applicable, continues to participate in a meeting conducted under Subsection (c).”
If the public can no longer see and hear the meeting at the meeting place, the board recesses until it is fixed, and adjourns if the problem runs past the limit in subsection (f) quoted above (§ 551.127(f)).
Checklist
Before the meeting
- Post the usual notice. (§ 551.127(d), (e))
- The notice names the place where a quorum will be physically present and says a quorum will be there. (§ 551.127(d), (e))
At the meeting
- A quorum is physically present at that place. (§ 551.127(b))
- Each open portion is visible and audible to the public at that place. (§ 551.127(f))
- Each remote member can be seen and heard, and sees and hears the others. (§ 551.127(h))
- Make at least an audio recording, and make it available to the public. (§ 551.127(g))
- A member whose connection drops is absent for that time, and the meeting continues only if a quorum remains at the meeting place. (§ 551.127(a-3))
- (Safe course) Note in the minutes when a member's connection dropped and returned.
What the law does not settle
Questions to take to your city attorney; this guide does not answer them.
- Whether a city whose territory extends into three or more counties is a body to which subsection (c) applies.
- How to hold a closed meeting when a member is online.
- Whether a recording made by the board's own staff must be kept for any set time; the section does not say.
- What audio and video standards the Department of Information Resources has set under subsection (i), which this guide does not read.
- Attorney General opinions and court decisions on this section were not reviewed for this guide.
How Clarivis helps
At the meeting, Clarivis records how each member attended; it does not run the call, name the place in the notice, or make the recording for you.
- Remote is its own attendance state. A member is recorded present, remote or absent, and remote is never folded into present.
- No reason asked. For Texas, Clarivis does not ask why a member is remote, and it counts a remote member in the attendance count.
- No check of the quorum in the room. Clarivis does not check that a quorum is physically present at one location, or that the notice names that place; the meeting's Compliance step lists the video rules among the duties it does not check.
Related guides
- Texas meeting notices and agendas: what to post, where, and whenNotice and agenda posted at city hall, and on the municipal website for the city council
- Texas meeting minutes: what they record and who can see themMinutes or a recording, public access, boards of adjustment, closed meetings
- Closed meetings in Texas: when a city board can meet in privateThe grounds, the announcement in the open meeting, the certified agenda or recording
- What counts as a meeting in Texas: quorum, email and work sessionsQuorum, email, work sessions, and what the law leaves out
This guide for other states
Sources
- Tex. Gov't Code § 551.127, videoconference call: tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/GV/htm/GV.551.htm
- Tex. Gov't Code § 551.125, other governmental body (telephone conference call): tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/GV/htm/GV.551.htm