VFOIA requires that “[a]ll meetings of public bodies shall be open[,]” Code § 2.2-3707(A), raising the questions of what constitutes both a “public body” and a “meeting.” VFOIA’s definitions section provides the answers. Code § 2.2-3701 defines “public body” to encompass, among other things, “governing bodies of counties[,]” making such governing bodies subject to the open meeting provisions of VFOIA. In turn, VFOIA defines “meeting” to include 16 work sessions . . . as a body or entity, or as an informal assemblage of (i) as many as three members or (ii) a quorum, if less than three, of the constituent membership, wherever held, with or without minutes being taken, whether or not votes are cast, of any public body. Id. Having defined “meeting” in broad terms, VFOIA then creates exceptions to that definition. Specifically, [n]either the gathering of employees of a public body nor the gathering or attendance of two or more members of a public body (a) at any place or function where no part of the purpose of such gathering or attendance is the discussion or transaction of any public business, and such gathering or attendance was not called or prearranged with any purpose of discussing or transacting any business of the public body, or (b) at a public forum, candidate appearance, or debate, the purpose of which is to inform the electorate and not to transact public business or to hold discussions relating to the transaction of public business, even though the performance of the members individually or collectively in the conduct of public business may be a topic of discussion or debate at such public meeting, shall be deemed a “meeting” subject to the provisions of this chapter. Id. If a gathering falls within VFOIA’s definition of a “meeting[,]” it is then subject to the open meeting requirements of Code § 2.2-3707. Among other things, the statute requires that public meetings be publicly noticed, Code § 2.2-3707(C)-(D), that any public body having a meeting provide the public with the agenda and related materials, Code § 2.2-3707(F), and that written minutes of the meeting be taken. Code § 2.2-3707(H).

The meaning of the undefined “public business” in Code § 2.2-3701 is business that is on a public body’s agenda or is likely to come before the public body in the foreseeable future.

For a topic to constitute public business it must not just be something that conceptually could at some point come before a public body, but rather, the topic must be something that is either before the public body or is likely to come before the body in the foreseeable future. Beck v. Shelton, 267 Va. 482, 494 (2004). In Beck, the court stated that a protest related to traffic controls at a particular street corner “was a citizen-organized ‘informational forum’ and that no part of the purpose of the gathering or attendance was the discussion or transaction of any public business” because “[t]he undisputed evidence at trial was that City Council did not have any business pending before it on the issue of traffic controls, nor was it likely to have such matters come before it in the future.” Id. Embracing this language and reasoning from Beck, the court made clear that a topic is “public business” for the purpose of Code § 2.2-3701 if it is either “pending before” the public body at the time or it is “likely to . . . come before it in the future.” Beck, 267 Va. at 494