When A Meeting Is Public
N.J.S.A. 10:4-12 — open at all times, and the only reasons a door may close
In New Jersey, all meetings of public bodies are open to the public at all times, except for the portions the section allows to be closed. A body keeps its discretion to permit, prohibit or regulate active participation by the public, with one exception.
Councils and school boards set aside time for public comment at every meeting. A municipal governing body and a board of education set aside a portion of every meeting, of a length they decide, for public comment on any governmental or school district issue a member of the public feels may concern the residents.
- Matters made confidential by federal law, State statute or court rule.
- Matters whose release would impair a right to receive federal funds.
- Material whose disclosure would be an unwarranted invasion of individual privacy, such as records of a specific person served by a public program, unless that person asks in writing for public discussion.
- Collective bargaining agreements and their negotiation.
- Purchasing or leasing real property with public funds, setting banking rates or investing public funds, where disclosure could harm the public interest.
- Tactics and techniques for protecting public safety and property, and investigations of possible violations of the law.
- Pending or anticipated litigation or contract negotiation, and matters within the attorney client privilege.
- Personnel matters about a specific officer or employee, unless everyone whose rights could be affected asks in writing for a public discussion.
- Deliberations after a public hearing that may result in a specific civil penalty or the loss of a license or permit.
Those are the only portions of a meeting from which the public may be excluded. No public body holds a meeting unless adequate notice has been given to the public, except on the affirmative vote of three quarters of the members present for a matter so urgent that delay for notice would likely cause substantial harm to the public interest. That meeting is then limited to the urgent matter, and notice is posted and given to two newspapers as soon as possible.
What adequate notice requires, the minutes rules, and the remedies for an action taken at a meeting that did not comply are in other sections of the act and are not reproduced here. Whether a particular gathering was a meeting of a public body is a question for a court and for a licensed New Jersey attorney.
Sources for this section (2)
- N.J.S.A. 10:4-12 — Meetings open to public; exceptions
- N.J.S.A. 10:4-9 — Notice of meetings
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed New Jersey attorney.