Sunshine Law revisions taking effect on Aug. 28, 2004

610.010: Makes clear that meetings and votes conducted by phone, video conference or Internet are covered by the Sunshine Law.
610.015: Requires, with certain exceptions, votes by elected bodies to be held with a quorum present in person.
610.020: Strengthens notice requirements for meetings held by electronic means, secures the public's right to audiotape and videotape open meetings, and requires public bodies to keep minutes of closed meetings.
610.022: Provides that a member of a public body who properly objects to a vote by the body to close a meeting, vote or record has a defense against claims for violation of the Sunshine Law.
610.023: Requires records to be provided in the format requested if available.
610.025: Ensures that e-mails exchanged among a majority of a public body with four or more members, or among all members of a public body with three members, are open to the public, unless covered by a specific exception.
610.026: Clarifies what public bodies can charge for search and copying and caps fees for standard copies at 10 cents per page.
610.027: Increases penalties for violations of the Sunshine Law.

Opinion No. 126-2003: The Sunshine Law requires an election authority to release a record of voter registration information to a newspaper and to provide a copy in CD-ROM format if available.
Opinion No. 143-2003: A citizen's advisory committee is a public governmental body and records of communications from members of the committee or city staffers to a private consultant are public records.

State ex rel. Moore v. Brewster, 116 S.W.3d 630 (Mo. App. E.D. 2003): A report on alleged misconduct by two school board members is a closed record as legal work product, but must be shared with all board members. Attorney fees are awarded against the board because of failure to appoint a custodian of records.