(a) All meetings of a governmental agency or of a subdivision thereof authorized to take action on behalf of the agency shall be open to the public.
(b) Except where the agency finds that the public interest requires otherwise, subsection (a) hereof shall not apply to any agency meetings, or any portion of an agency meeting, or to any meeting, or portion thereof, of a subdivision of said agency authorized to take action on its behalf, where the agency or subdivision thereof conducting the meeting properly determines that the meeting or a portion or portions thereof can reasonably be expected to
(1) disclose information of a personal nature where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
(2) involve accusing any person of a crime or formally censuring any person;
(3) disclose information contained in investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the disclosure would—
(A) interfere with enforcement proceedings;
(B) deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication;
(C) constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,
(D) disclose the identity of a confidential source,
(E) in the case of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, disclose confidential information furnished only by the confidential source.
(F) disclose investigation techniques and procedures, or
(G) endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel;
(4) disclose trade secrets or financial or commercial information obtained from any person, where such trade secrets or other information could not be obtained by the agency without a pledge of confidentiality, or where such information must be withheld from the public in order to prevent substantial injury to the competitive position of the person to whom such information relates;
(5) disclose information which must be withheld from the public in order to avoid premature disclosure of an action or a proposed action by—
(A) an agency which relates to securities, commodities or financial institutions where such disclosure would—
(i) lead to serious financial speculations in securities or commodities, or
(ii) seriously endanger the stability of any financial institution;
(B) any agency where such disclosure would seriously frustrate implementation of the proposed agency action, or private action contingent thereon; or
(C) any agency relating to the purchase by such agency of real property.
This paragraph (5) shall not apply in any instance where the agency has already disclosed to the public the content or nature of its proposed action, or where the agency is required by law to make such disclosure on its own initiative prior to taking final agency action on such proposal;(6) disclose information contained in or related to examination, operating or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions;
(7) specifically concern the agency's participation in a civil action in a federal or local court, or the initiation, conduct or disposition by the agency of a particular case of formal agency adjudication, or otherwise involving a determination on the record after opportunity for a hearing; or
(8) disclose information required to be withheld from the public by any other statute establishing particular types of information.
This subsection shall not apply to meetings to conduct public hearings.(c)
(1) Action under subsection (b) shall be taken only when a majority of the entire membership of the agency, or of the subdivision thereof authorized to conduct the meeting on behalf of the agency, votes to take such action. A separate vote of the agency members, or the members of a subdivision thereof, shall be taken with respect to each agency meeting a portion or portions of which are proposed to be closed to the public pursuant to subsection (b), or with respect to any information which is proposed to be withheld under subsection (b). A single vote may be taken with respect to a series of meetings, a portion or portions of which are proposed to be closed to the public, or with respect to any information concerning such series of meetings, so long as each meeting in such series involves the same particular matters and is scheduled to be held no more than thirty days after the initial meeting i such series. The vote of each agency member participating in such vote shall be recorded and no proxies shall be allowed. Whenever any person whose interests may be directly affected by a meeting requests that the agency close a portion or portions of the meeting to the public for any of the reasons referred to in paragraphs (2), (3), or (4) of subsection (b), the agency shall vote whether to close such meeting, upon request of any one of its members. Within one day of any vote taken pursuant to this paragraph, the agency shall make publicly available a written copy of such vote.
(2) Any agency, a majority of whose meetings will properly be closed to the public, in whole or in part, pursuant to paragraphs (4), (5)(A), (6), or (7) of subsection (b), or any combinations thereof, may provide by regulation for the closing of such meetings, or portion of such meetings, so long as a majority of the members of the agency, or of the subdivision thereof conducting the meeting, votes at the beginning of such meeting, or portion thereof, to close the meeting, and a copy of such vote is made available to the public. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any meeting to which such regulations apply: Provided, That the agency shall, except to the extent that the provisions of subsection (b) may apply, provide the public with public announcement of the date, place, and subject matter of the meeting at the earliest practicable opportunity.
(3) A copy of the vote on any action taken by an agency in a meeting closed to the public pursuant to subsection (b) must be made available to the public, excluding any information exempted from public disclosure under subsection (b). The documentation of the vote must include:
(A) the names of all agency members present at the time of the vote;
(B) a description of the matter on which the vote was taken; and
(C) a record of each member's vote.
(d) Each agency shall maintain an up-to-date schedule of the meetings which are to be held by it or any subdivision thereof, which schedule shall indicate whether the meeting, or portion thereof, will be open or closed to the public and if closed the reason therefor. The schedule shall be available for public inspection during all the regular working hours of said agency.
(e) The secretary or clerk of each agency, or a person designated by the head of the agency, shall maintain a list of persons who request notification of all meetings open to the public, or of meetings when certain specified formal action will be taken, and shall provide such persons reasonable advance notification of such meetings.
(f) No resolution, rule, regulation, ordinance, or formal action of any agency including the vote of an agency pursuant to subsection (c)(2) of this section shall be valid unless taken or made at a meeting that meets the requirements of this section.
(g)
(1) Subject to the provisions in subsection (b) of this section, all meetings of Standing and Special Committees of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, established pursuant to the Rules of the Legislature, shall be open to the public.
(2) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as extending the provisions hereof to deliberations of political conferences and caucuses so long as the political conferences and caucuses are not called for the purpose of circumventing the requirements of this subsection.
(3) For purposes of this section, the deliberations of political conferences and caucuses means a private meeting of the members of the Legislature, without regard to:
(A) the subject matter under discussion, including discussions of public business;
(B) the majority or minority status of such political conference or caucus; or
(C) whether such political conferences and caucuses invite staff or guests to participate in their deliberations.
(h) The minutes of a meeting, or portion thereof, required to be open to the public by this section shall be recorded, within thirty days of said meeting and such records shall be public records and open to public inspection.
(i) The courts of this territory shall have jurisdiction to issue injunctions to enforce the purposes of this chapter, including declaring the invalidity of agency actions taken contrary hereto, upon application by any resident of this territory.
(j) Any person who knowingly violates the provisions of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not to exceed $500.00.