NEW MEXICO FOUNDATION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT STATEMENT ON MMIP ADVISORY Council CLOSE MEETINGS

Committees often play an important role in the formation and execution of ideas and plans. If the public is not allowed to participate, how does the public know the committee is not hiding secrets? It’s a huge problem.

The Open Meetings Act (OMA) only covers those meetings that are conducted by members of a public body. As the governor created the of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People Advisory Council, it is not subject to the OMA.

However, in 2018 the New Mexico Supreme Court formed a similar commission, The Adult Guardian Study Commission. That Commission opened its meetings to the public and published its agendas and minutes. As one member remarked, “The effort and charge of the commission is the one most single important chance we have to make a significant different in the guardianship process and it shouldn’t be status quo.”

As the goal of the MMIP committee is to “harness resources to confront the crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous People,” FOG believes any attempt to engage in a public decision-making process without including the public is a violation of the public’s trust. It is basically a question of accountability and being transparent.

The New Mexico Open Meetings Act was passed in 1978 in recognition of the fact that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate for the benefit of all New Mexicans.