— The Clerk’s Desk —

Practical guides for local government clerks and administrators.

Practical guides on agenda management, ADA compliance, open meetings law, and the day-to-day work of running public meetings.

— made specifically for local governments.

State Law · 13 min read

Illinois Open Meetings Act (5 ILCS 120): The 48-Hour Agenda Rule, the Public Access Counselor's Binding Opinions, and Remote Meetings After P.A. 102-0058 in 2026

Illinois gives an ordinary citizen something almost no other state does: a way to get a binding legal ruling against your board without hiring a lawyer. Between the Section 2.02 agenda rule, the Attorney General's Public Access Counselor, and the disaster-declaration remote-meeting framework, Illinois is the most enforced open-meetings regime in the country.

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State Law · 12 min read

Washington Open Public Meetings Act (RCW 42.30): The New Agenda Rule in RCW 42.30.077, Special-Meeting Notice, and ESHB 1329 in 2026

For fifty years Washington's OPMA required no agenda. Then ESHB 1329 added one in 2022 — RCW 42.30.077, a 24-hour online agenda rule — and deliberately made it nearly unenforceable. Why the legislature did both, and what it means for regular versus special meetings.

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State Law · 12 min read

New York Open Meetings Law (Public Officers Law Article 7): The 24-Hour Document-Posting Rule, Section 104 Notice, and Section 103-a Videoconferencing in 2026

New York requires no agenda — and that surprises clerks from other states. The obligations that actually bind are the Section 104 notice rule, the Section 103(e) 24-hour document-posting requirement added in 2021, and the Section 103-a videoconferencing framework.

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State Law · 13 min read

California Brown Act (Gov. Code Sec. 54950): The 72-Hour Agenda Rule, AB 2449, and the Electronic Posting Standard in 2026

Every California clerk can recite the 72-hour rule and the no-action-on-non-agenda-items rule. Far fewer can walk through AB 2449's teleconferencing framework, the Sec. 54957.5 packet-disclosure standard, or the cure-and-correct demand under Sec. 54960.1.

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State Law · 13 min read

Texas Open Meetings Act (Chapter 551): The 72-Hour Agenda Rule and Where Clerks Actually Get Tripped Up

Every Texas clerk can recite the 72-hour rule. Far fewer can name the case law that defines "sufficiently apprises," the population thresholds that trigger Sec. 551.056 website posting, or the 2019 amendments that rewrote how walking-quorum prosecutions work.

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State Law · 12 min read

Florida Sunshine Law (Sec. 286.011, F.S.): What Agenda Notice Actually Requires in 2026

"Reasonable notice" is the statutory phrase. Forty years of AG opinions and appellate decisions have given it a much more specific meaning than the words alone — and the digital posting era added a layer the original drafters never anticipated.

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State Law · 11 min read

Colorado House Bill 21-1110: A Clerk's Field Guide to Accessible Meeting Agendas

The HB 21-1110 grace period ended in July 2025. Here's what Colorado's digital accessibility law actually requires of your agenda packets, where most clerks are still exposed, and how to close the gap before a complaint forces the issue.

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Buyer's Guide · 10 min read

How to Evaluate a GovTech Vendor's Stability Before You Sign

Acquisitions and consolidation are part of the software landscape. Here's how to read a contract for renewal, bundling, and auto-renewal terms — and the questions worth asking any vendor before you commit to a multi-year deal.

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Buyer's Guide · 14 min read

CivicPlus, Granicus & Govably: How to Choose Meeting Software

A fair look at what each platform is built for, how they fit different sizes of government, and how Govably's AI minutes work alongside the tools you already use. Yes, we make one of them — we will say so when it matters.

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Transparency · 8 min read

Live Citizen Portals: How Real-Time Transparency Builds Public Trust

Posting the agenda PDF the day before is the bare legal minimum. A live portal — votes updating in real time, packet documents accessible without a login, public comment sign-up from any phone — changes how citizens experience their own government.

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Compliance · 12 min read

ADA Compliance for Local Government Meetings: A Practical Guide for Clerks in 2026

Title II covers your meetings. Most clerks know that, but few know what it actually requires for agendas, minutes, public comment, and digital documents. Here is what compliance looks like in practice.

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Workflow · 10 min read

How to Move from Microsoft Word to Modern Agenda Software in 30 Days

A practical, week-by-week plan for clerks ready to retire the Word-and-email agenda workflow. What to migrate first, what to leave behind, and how to bring council members along without a revolt.

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