South Dakota Panel Rejects Plan to Record Closed Meetings

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - A task force seeking ways to make South Dakota government more open has rejected a proposal that would have required boards and commissions to record closed meetings as a check on whether those meetings were improperly closed.

However, the panel endorsed other proposals to clarify the open meetings law and make some government documents public. One recommendation would make police mug shots public.

The task force's recommendations now go to Gov. Dennis Daugaard and Attorney General Marty Jackley, who appointed the panel. Daugaard and Jackley will decide whether to introduce the panel's recommendations in the 2013 session of the South Dakota Legislature.

The defeated measure would have required government boards and commissions to record closed meetings, with the recordings kept sealed unless someone complained a meeting was improperly closed.

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