Liberal construction of law to be public policy
Missouri's official policy is that government meetings, records, votes, and decisions should be open to the public. The laws about this openness are meant to be read broadly, and any exceptions to openness are meant to be read narrowly. Government meetings, records, and votes must be open and available to the public unless another law says otherwise.
610.011. of law to be . — 1. It is the public policy of this state that meetings, records, votes, actions, and of public governmental bodies be open to the public unless otherwise provided by law. Sections 610.010 to 610.200 shall be and their exceptions to promote this public policy.
2. Except as otherwise provided by law, all public meetings of public governmental bodies shall be open to the public as set forth in section 610.020, all public records of public governmental bodies shall be open to the public for inspection and copying as set forth in sections 610.023 to 610.026, and all public votes of public governmental bodies shall be as set forth in section 610.015.
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Source & history notes
(L. 1987 S.B. 2, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1020, et al.)
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