An expedited closing procedure is a regulation that lets a qualified agency quickly announce and close certain meetings to the public. The rule is authorized under 2203.4(a) and implements the statutory authority in 5 U.S.C. 552b(d)(4).
Yes — the Commission has announced it will follow the expedited closing procedure for its regularly scheduled meetings. The Commission's decision to do so is stated in 2203.4(b).
The Commission determined it qualifies because a majority of its meetings can be closed under the adjudicatory exemption at 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(10). The Commission's reasoning and qualification are described in 2203.4(b) and relate to 2203.3(b)(10).
Regularly scheduled Commission meetings are held at 10:30 a.m. every Thursday (except legal holidays) in the Hearing Room (Suite 965) at One Lafayette Centre, 1120-20th Street NW., Washington, DC 20036-3457. This schedule and location are provided in 2203.4(c).
The Commission will publicly announce the time, date, and place of a regularly scheduled meeting by posting a notice in a prominent place at the Commission's national office at the earliest practicable time. The announcement procedure is described in 2203.4(c).
If a regularly scheduled meeting is cancelled, the Commission will post a notice of cancellation in the same prominent manner used for meeting announcements. The cancellation requirement is stated in 2203.4.
Information about the subject of each regularly scheduled meeting will be made available in the Office of the General Counsel at the earliest practicable time, and public inquiries will be handled by that office. See 2203.4. For questions, the Office of the General Counsel can be reached at (202) 606-5410 as provided in the rule.
Yes — individual items may be added to or deleted from the agenda at any time, and the rule makes clear that agenda items can change after a public announcement. This flexibility is specified in 2203.4(c).
Commissioners vote on whether to close the meeting at the beginning of each regularly scheduled meeting. The timing of the vote is specified in 2203.4(d).
No — proxy votes are not permitted; each Commissioner must vote in person. The prohibition on proxy voting is stated in 2203.4(d).
Yes — the vote of each Commissioner will be recorded, and that record will be made available to the public at the Commission's national office immediately after the meeting. See 2203.4(d).
Meetings that involve formal agency adjudication — that is, deliberations concerning specific cases before the agency — are typically closed under the c(10) exemption. The Commission explains its frequent use of c(10) in 2203.4(b) and the related exemption is in 2203.3(b)(10).
The expedited closing authority applies when a majority of an agency's meetings may be closed under any combination of the exemptions in paragraphs (4), (8), (9)(A), or (10) of subsection (c). The cross-reference and specific exemption anchors are in 2203.4(a) and the related provisions in 2203.3(b)(4), 2203.3(b)(8), 2203.3(b)(9)(i), and 2203.3(b)(10).
'Earliest practicable time' means the Commission will post the notice of a scheduled meeting as soon as reasonably possible under the circumstances to give the public notice. The timing standard for announcements is specified in 2203.4(c).
Yes — the expedited closing procedure permits closing an entire meeting or only portions of a meeting when the statutory exemption applies. The authority to close meetings or portions is explained in 2203.4(a).
The Office of the General Counsel is responsible for handling public inquiries about regularly scheduled meetings. That responsibility and the contact information are described in 2203.4; the rule lists the Office of the General Counsel telephone number as (202) 606-5410.
The rule announces the Commission's decision to follow the expedited closing procedure but does not lock the agency into a permanent practice; the Commission's qualification and use of the procedure are explained in 2203.4(b) and the broader part at 2203. Any future changes would follow the agency's rulemaking or administrative processes.
The record of each Commissioner's vote is made available to the public at the Commission's national office immediately after the meeting. This disclosure requirement is stated in 2203.4(d).
The meeting location details — One Lafayette Centre, 1120-20th Street NW., Hearing Room (Suite 965) — are provided in 2203.4(c).