Do Louisiana Local Emergency Planning Committees have to hold their meetings in public under the Open Meetings Law?

Plain-English summary

Louisiana State Representative Les Farnum asked the AG whether Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs), the bodies set up under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), have to meet in public under Louisiana's Open Meetings Law. The AG said yes.

EPCRA (42 U.S.C. § 11001 et seq.) was passed by Congress to help communities plan for chemical and hazardous material emergencies. The structure works like this: each state governor appoints a State Emergency Response Commission (SERC), the SERC designates emergency planning districts within the state, and the SERC then appoints an LEPC for each district. Each LEPC must include elected state and local officials, first responders (police, fire, civil defense), public health professionals, environmental and transportation officials, hospital officials, representatives of regulated chemical facilities, and community group and media representatives. LEPCs prepare and annually review a written community emergency response plan and make hazardous-material information available to citizens.

Louisiana implemented EPCRA through the Hazardous Materials Information Development, Preparedness, and Response Act (the "Right-to-Know Law"), La. R.S. 30:2361 et seq. La. R.S. 30:2378 says that "[a]ll proceedings conducted under this Chapter and all rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this Chapter shall be conducted or adopted in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act and the Open Meetings Law."

The AG ran two independent paths to the same conclusion that LEPCs are "public bodies" under the Open Meetings Law.

Path 1: LEPCs are committees of a public body. La. R.S. 42:13(A)(3) defines a "public body" to include "any committee or subcommittee" of the bodies listed in the statute (which include state and special-district boards and commissions). The Louisiana Supreme Court in Louisiana High School Athletics Association v. State (2013) confirmed that "committee or subcommittee" refers to committees formed by a public body itself. Because the SERC is a state commission (and therefore a public body), and the SERC forms LEPCs by appointing them, LEPCs are committees of a public body.

Path 2: LEPCs are independent public bodies based on their functions. The Open Meetings Law's definition reaches "any other state, parish, municipal, or special district boards, commissions, or authorities" with "policy making, advisory, or administrative functions." LEPCs have all three. Under 42 U.S.C. § 11003, LEPCs prepare emergency response plans, review them annually, evaluate resource needs, and make recommendations for additional resources. Their plans must identify regulated facilities and hazardous-substance transportation routes, set response methods and procedures, designate emergency coordinators, establish notification procedures, set evacuation plans, plan training programs, and schedule drills. These are policy-making and administrative functions, not purely advisory ones.

The private-advisory-committee exemption does not apply. La. R.S. 42:17(D) exempts from certain Open Meetings Law provisions "any meeting of a private citizens' advisory group or a private citizens' advisory committee established by a public body, when the members of such group or committee do not receive any compensation and serve only in an advisory capacity." The AG distinguished its 2019 opinion (Op. 19-0145), which had applied that exemption to an Ethics Review Board "awards working group" that was made up of uncompensated private citizens who only helped the Board pick award nominees. LEPC members are different: they include elected officials, first responders, and chemical facility representatives; they have their own statutory duties; and their function is not purely advisory. So the exemption does not reach them.

Bottom line: LEPCs must conduct their meetings in accordance with the Open Meetings Law. That includes public notice, public attendance, recorded votes, and the other requirements that apply to Louisiana public bodies.

What this means for you

If you serve on a Louisiana LEPC. Treat your meetings as full public meetings. Post the meeting notice in advance, list the agenda, allow public attendance and (where the Open Meetings Law calls for it) public comment, record votes, and keep minutes. Verify with your parish or state OEP partner what the routine notice-and-posting practices are in your jurisdiction; the SERC and Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) can provide template language.

If you are an LEPC chair or staff coordinator. Build the Open Meetings Law calendar into your routine: each meeting needs notice posted in advance at a designated location (usually the parish courthouse, OEP office, or governmental website), the meeting itself must be in a location accessible to the public, and minutes must be drafted and made available afterward. Discussing facility-specific hazardous substance details may at times involve sensitive information, but the default rule is openness. Closed sessions are limited to the specific statutory grounds in La. R.S. 42:17 and require the procedural steps in La. R.S. 42:16.

If you represent a chemical facility on an LEPC. Your role on the LEPC is a public-body role, even though you also have private-sector responsibilities. The discussion of the facility's hazardous substances, response plans, and risk profiles happens in a public forum. Coordinate with your environmental health-and-safety counsel on what kinds of facility information you can discuss in open session, and what (if any) qualifies for an Open Meetings Law exemption.

If you are a journalist or community advocate following hazardous-material planning. This opinion confirms your right to attend and observe LEPC meetings. The federal EPCRA framework already requires public meetings on the emergency plan and public comment opportunities, and this opinion stacks state Open Meetings Law on top of that. If you encounter an LEPC operating in closed session without the procedural justifications the Open Meetings Law requires, you have a basis to challenge under the Louisiana Open Meetings Law.

If you are advising the State Emergency Response Commission. The opinion's two-path reasoning gives you flexibility in how you assert Open Meetings Law authority over LEPCs. You can rely on the committee-of-a-public-body rationale (anchored in LHSAA v. State), the functional definition (policy-making, advisory, and administrative functions), or both. The functional rationale is the more durable basis if a particular LEPC is structured in a way that complicates the committee-of-the-SERC characterization.

Common questions

Q: Are LEPCs federal bodies? Don't federal rules govern them?
A: LEPCs are created under federal law (EPCRA, 42 U.S.C. § 11001 et seq.), but they are constituted at the state and local level by the SERC. They are not federal agencies. EPCRA itself requires LEPCs to hold public meetings on the emergency plan and to take public comment. Louisiana law layers the Open Meetings Law on top of that, so the meetings are governed by both EPCRA's procedural rules and the Open Meetings Law.

Q: What is the difference between a public body and a private advisory committee under the Open Meetings Law?
A: The distinction in La. R.S. 42:17(D) turns on three factors: the members are private citizens, they receive no compensation, and they serve only in an advisory capacity. LEPCs flunk that test because they include elected officials and first responders (not purely private citizens), they have direct policy-making and administrative duties under federal law (not purely advisory), and the exemption simply does not fit their structure.

Q: Can an LEPC ever go into closed session?
A: Yes, under the specific statutory grounds in La. R.S. 42:17 and the procedural steps in La. R.S. 42:16. The Open Meetings Law allows closed sessions for limited purposes like litigation strategy, certain personnel matters, and security discussions. The Louisiana Open Meetings Law also allows the public body to hold an executive session to discuss security plans where public disclosure would defeat the purpose of the session. Document the legal basis for any closed session in the meeting minutes.

Q: We are a volunteer-staffed LEPC and we don't have the resources to do formal notice and minutes. What do we do?
A: The legal obligations apply regardless of staffing. Practical options include: partnering with the parish OEP for notice posting and clerical support, using the SERC's standard templates, or recruiting a staff secretary from one of the represented agencies. Skipping the requirements creates legal exposure for the LEPC and individual members if a citizen sues to enforce the Open Meetings Law.

Q: How does this opinion interact with the federal Right-to-Know requirements?
A: The federal EPCRA requirements for community right-to-know (annual notice, public meetings on the plan, written comment opportunities) are independent of the Louisiana Open Meetings Law. After this opinion, LEPCs must satisfy both sets of rules. In most cases the more stringent requirement controls; in some cases the requirements simply layer (a public meeting that is also an EPCRA-required plan-comment meeting needs notice that satisfies both sets of rules).

Background and statutory framework

Federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). 42 U.S.C. § 11001 et seq. EPCRA grew out of the 1984 Bhopal disaster and a series of U.S. chemical releases that exposed gaps in community preparedness. The Act creates a tiered structure: a national network of State Emergency Response Commissions (SERCs), each SERC designates emergency planning districts within its state, and each district has an LEPC. Each LEPC develops an emergency response plan and provides hazardous-substance information to the community. 42 U.S.C. § 11003 specifies the LEPC's planning duties; 42 U.S.C. § 11004 governs emergency release notification.

Louisiana implementation. The Hazardous Materials Information Development, Preparedness, and Response Act (Right-to-Know Law), La. R.S. 30:2361 et seq., implements EPCRA in Louisiana. La. R.S. 30:2362(A) declares the public's right to know about and protect themselves from hazardous materials. La. R.S. 30:2378 directs that all proceedings under the chapter follow the Administrative Procedure Act and the Open Meetings Law.

Louisiana Open Meetings Law. La. R.S. 42:11 et seq. La. R.S. 42:12 sets the public policy in favor of open meetings and liberal construction of the law. La. R.S. 42:13(A)(3) defines "public body" to include named state and local governing authorities and "any other state, parish, municipal, or special district boards, commissions, or authorities, and those of any political subdivision thereof, where such body possesses policy making, advisory, or administrative functions, including any committee or subcommittee of any of these bodies." La. R.S. 42:14 requires meetings of public bodies to be open. La. R.S. 42:17(D) carves out an exemption for private citizens' advisory committees that receive no compensation and serve only advisory roles.

Constitutional anchor. La. Const. art. XII, § 3 provides that "No person shall be denied the right to observe the deliberations of public bodies and examine public documents, except in cases established by law."

Relevant case. Louisiana High School Athletics Association v. State, 12-1471 (La. 1/29/13), 107 So.3d 583. The Louisiana Supreme Court held that "committee or subcommittee" in La. R.S. 42:13(A)(3) refers to a committee formed by a public body itself.

Distinguished prior opinion. La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 19-0145 applied the private-advisory exemption to an Ethics Review Board awards-working-group made up of uncompensated private citizens who served only in an advisory capacity. The AG distinguished that situation from LEPCs because LEPCs are not purely advisory and include public officials.

Liz Murrill is the Attorney General of Louisiana. Chimène St. Amant signed the opinion as Assistant Attorney General.

Citations and references

Statutes:
- La. R.S. 42:11 et seq. (Open Meetings Law)
- La. R.S. 42:12 (public policy)
- La. R.S. 42:13(A)(3) (definition of public body)
- La. R.S. 42:14 (meetings open to the public)
- La. R.S. 42:17(D) (exemption for private citizens' advisory committees)
- La. R.S. 42:19 (notice of meetings)
- La. R.S. 42:20 (minutes)
- La. R.S. 30:2361 et seq. (Hazardous Materials Information Development, Preparedness, and Response Act)
- La. R.S. 30:2362(A) (public's right to know)
- La. R.S. 30:2378 (open meetings and APA compliance)

Federal statutes:
- 42 U.S.C. § 11001 (EPCRA, state commissions and planning)
- 42 U.S.C. § 11003 (emergency planning by LEPCs)
- 42 U.S.C. § 11004 (emergency notification of releases)

Constitutional provisions:
- La. Const. art. XII, § 3 (right to observe deliberations of public bodies)

Cases:
- Louisiana High Sch. Athletics Ass'n, Inc. v. State, 12-1471 (La. 1/29/13), 107 So.3d 583, 606

Distinguished prior opinion:
- La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 19-0145 (Ethics Review Board awards working group)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/25-0025

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain, the linked PDF is authoritative.

STATE OF LOUISIANA
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
P.O. Box 94005
BATON ROUGE, LA 70804-9005

LIZ MURRILL
ATTORNEY GENERAL

July 3, 2025

OPINION 25-0025

90-B4 PUBLIC MEETINGS — State & Local Governing Bodies
Honorable Les Farnum
Representative District 33
La. R.S. 42:11, et seq.
La. R.S. 30:2361, et seq.
P.O. Box 558
Sulphur, Louisiana 70664

Local Emergency Planning Committees are public bodies subject to the Open Meetings Law.

Dear Representative Farnum:

You have requested an opinion concerning whether Local Emergency Planning Committees, which were established by the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), 42 U.S.C. 11001, et seq., are required to conduct their meetings in accordance with Louisiana's Open Meetings Law, La. R.S. 42:11, et seq.

Question: Are Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs) required to conduct their meetings in accordance with the Open Meetings Law, or are they considered private citizens' advisory groups or committees and therefore exempt from that law's requirements?

Conclusion: LEPCs are subject to the Open Meetings Law because they meet the statutory definition of public bodies, and they do not fall under the category of private citizens' advisory committees.

Background

The EPCRA's purpose is to help communities plan for chemical and hazardous material emergencies. This federal law requires the governor of each state to appoint a State Emergency Response Commission (SERC). In turn, the SERC is required to designate emergency planning districts, as well as appoint a LEPC for each district.

At a minimum, LEPCs must be composed of elected state and local officials; police, fire, civil defense, and public health professionals; environment, transportation, and hospital officials; representatives of facilities subject to the EPCRA; representatives from community groups and the media. LEPCs are required to develop an emergency response plan with stakeholder participation, review the plan at least annually, and provide information about chemicals in the community to citizens. In addition, each LEPC is required to appoint a chairperson and establish rules by which the LEPC shall function. These rules must include provisions for public notification of LEPC activities, public meetings to discuss the emergency plan, public comments, response to such comments by the LEPC, and distribution of the emergency plan.

To implement the EPCRA's requirements, the Louisiana Legislature passed the Hazardous Materials Information Development, Preparedness, and Response Act (Right-to-Know Law), La. R.S. 30:2361, et seq. In Section 2362 of the Right-to-Know Law, entitled "Declaration of policy and purpose," the Legislature stated, in pertinent part:

The legislature hereby adopts as a policy that the citizens of this state have the right and responsibility to know about and protect themselves from the risks and effects of hazardous materials in their environment. Inherent in the public's right to know is the public's need to know that state and local agencies have the information to both respond to their inquiries and to protect them...

La. R.S. 30:2362(A).

In addition, the Right-to-Know Law specifically provides that, "[a]ll proceedings conducted under this Chapter and all rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this Chapter shall be conducted or adopted in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act and the Open Meetings Law." La. R.S. 30:2378 (emphasis added). You question whether this provision requires LEPCs to conduct their meetings in accordance with the Open Meetings Law because the Right-to-Know Law primarily dictates the SERC's duties and responsibilities and provides little to no detail concerning LEPCs. As you note, however, the argument exists that LEPC meetings are conducted "under this Chapter [the Right-to-Know Law]" because the creation of LEPCs and their activities are subject to the Chapter.

Regardless, pursuant to the Open Meetings Law, meetings of "public bodies" are to be open to the public unless closed pursuant to legislatively determined exceptions. La. R.S. 42:14. The Legislature provided the public policy for open meetings, as follows:

It is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner and that the citizens be advised of and aware of the performance of public officials and the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy. Toward this end, the provisions of [the Open Meetings Law] shall be construed liberally.

La. R.S. 42:12.

For purposes of the Open Meetings Law, a "public body" is defined as:

[V]illage, town, and city governing authorities; parish governing authorities; school boards and boards of levee and port commissioners; boards of publicly operated utilities; planning, zoning, and airport commissions; and any other state, parish, municipal, or special district boards, commissions, or authorities, and those of any political subdivision thereof, where such body possesses policy making, advisory, or administrative functions, including any committee or subcommittee of any of these bodies enumerated in this paragraph.

La. R.S. 42:13(A)(3) (emphasis added). LEPCs meet this definition in two ways. First, the phrase "committee or subcommittee of any of these bodies" refers to a committee formed by a public body itself. Louisiana High Sch. Athletics Ass'n, Inc. v. State, 12-1471 (La. 1/29/13), 107 So.3d 583, 606. Here, LEPCs are committees appointed by the SERC, which is a state commission (i.e., a public body). Thus, it is the opinion of this office that LEPCs are committees formed by a public body and, therefore, are public bodies under La. R.S. 42:13(A)(3).

Second, independent of LEPCs' connection to the SERC, it is the opinion of this office that LEPCs meet the definition of "public body" because they possess policy making, advisory, and administrative functions. Specifically, LEPCs are required to prepare an emergency plan and review the plan at least once a year. 42 U.S.C. 11003(a). LEPCs are also required to evaluate the need for resources necessary to develop, implement, and exercise the emergency plan, as well as make recommendations with respect to the additional resources required and the means for providing the additional resources. 42 U.S.C. 11003(b).

In addition, each emergency plan prepared by LEPCs must include, but is not limited to, each of the following:

(1) Identification of facilities subject to the requirements of this subchapter that are within the emergency planning district, identification of routes likely to be used for the transportation of substances on the list of extremely hazardous substances referred to in section 11002(a) of this title, and identification of additional facilities contributing or subjected to additional risk due to their proximity to facilities subject to the requirements of this subchapter, such as hospitals or natural gas facilities.

(2) Methods and procedures to be followed by facility owners and operators and local emergency and medical personnel to respond to any release of such substances.

(3) Designation of a community emergency coordinator and facility emergency coordinators, who shall make determinations necessary to implement the plan.

(4) Procedures providing reliable, effective, and timely notification by the facility emergency coordinators and the community emergency coordinator to persons designated in the emergency plan, and to the public, that a release has occurred (consistent with the emergency notification requirements of section 11004 of this title).

(5) Methods for determining the occurrence of a release, and the area or population likely to be affected by such release.

(6) A description of emergency equipment and facilities in the community and at each facility in the community subject to the requirements of this subchapter, and an identification of the persons responsible for such equipment and facilities.

(7) Evacuation plans, including provisions for a precautionary evacuation and alternative traffic routes.

(8) Training programs, including schedules for training of local emergency response and medical personnel.

(9) Methods and schedules for exercising the emergency plan.

42 U.S.C. 11003(c). These duties establish that LEPCs are special commissions that possess policy-making, advisory, and administrative functions, which meets the definition of "public body" in the Open Meetings Law. See La. R.S. 42:13(A)(3).

As you note in your request, the Open Meetings Law contains an exemption for private citizens' advisory committees. This exemption is set forth in La. R.S. 42:17(D), which states, in pertinent part:

The provisions of R.S. 42:19 and R.S. 42:20 shall not apply to any meeting of a private citizens' advisory group or a private citizens' advisory committee established by a public body, when the members of such group or committee do not receive any compensation and serve only in an advisory capacity.

Your request also refers to La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 19-0145, in which this office opined that this exemption applied to group of mostly private citizens who served in an advisory capacity to the Ethics Review Board. Specifically, the Ethics Review Board appointed one board member as a "project leader," who then asked members of the community to join an "awards working group" to discuss potential nominees for the annual ethics awards. After the "awards working group" had discussed the potential nominees, the project leader would provide the group's recommendation to the Ethics Review Board, which retained sole authority to select the award recipient. In short, the members of the "awards working group" were uncompensated private citizens who merely assisted the Ethics Review Board in making award recipient recommendations.

In contrast, LEPC members do not serve in a strictly advisory capacity. As noted, LEPCs have policy making and administrative functions, in addition to their advisory roles. Furthermore, LEPCs are a committee provided for by law in their own right with their own mandated duties. Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that LEPCs are not private citizens' advisory committees.

In conclusion, it is the opinion of this office that LEPCs are public bodies subject to the Open Meetings Law and are not exempt from any of its requirements, as they do not constitute private citizens' advisory committees.

We hope that this opinion has adequately addressed the legal issues you have raised. If our office can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best regards,

LIZ MURRILL
ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:
Chimène St. Amant
Assistant Attorney General

LM: CS

[Footnote: This opinion also noted, "it is the advice of this office that such a working group be formally established as a committee by the public body." La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 19-0145.]

[Footnote: See also La. Const. art. XII, § 3 ("No person shall be denied the right to observe the deliberations of public bodies and examine public documents, except in cases established by law.").]