West Virginia Code Chapter 16. Public Health § 16-5G-3. Proceedings to be open; public notice of meetings

Except as expressly and specifically otherwise provided by law, and except as provided in section four of this article, all meetings of a governing body of a hospital shall be open to the public. Any governing body may make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations for attendance and presentation at any meeting where there is not room enough for all members of the public who wish to attend. This article does not prohibit the removal from a meeting of any member of the public who is disrupting the meeting to the extent that orderly conduct of the meeting is compromised: Provided, That persons who desire to address the governing body may not be required to register to address the body more than fifteen minutes prior to time the scheduled meeting is to commence.

Each governing body shall promulgate rules by which the date, time and place of all regularly scheduled meetings and the date, time, place and purpose of all special meetings are made available, in advance, to the public and news media, except in the event of an emergency requiring immediate official action.

Each governing body shall file a notice of any meeting by causing a notice of the meeting to be printed in a local newspaper: Provided, That the governing body may otherwise provide by rule or regulation an alternative procedure that will reasonably provide the public with notice. Each notice shall state the date, time, place and purpose of the meeting.

In the event of an emergency requiring immediate official action, any governing body may provide an emergency meeting notice at any time prior to the meeting. The emergency meeting notice shall state the date, time, place and purpose of the meeting and the facts and circumstances of the emergency.

Upon petition by any adversely affected party, any court of competent jurisdiction may invalidate any action taken at any meeting for which notice did not comply with the requirements of this section.