{"data":{"id":"us-me/1-m.r.s.-401","jurisdiction":"us-me","citation":"1 M.R.S. §401","heading":"Declaration of public policy; rules of construction","body":"The Legislature finds and declares that public proceedings exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business. It is the intent of the Legislature that their actions be taken openly and that the records of their actions be open to public inspection and their deliberations be conducted openly. It is further the intent of the Legislature that clandestine meetings, conferences or meetings held on private property without proper notice and ample opportunity for attendance by the public not be used to defeat the purposes of this subchapter.\nThis subchapter does not prohibit communications outside of public proceedings between members of a public body unless those communications are used to defeat the purposes of this subchapter.\nThis subchapter shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies as contained in the declaration of legislative intent.","path":["TITLE 1: GENERAL PROVISIONS","CHAPTER 13: PUBLIC RECORDS AND PROCEEDINGS","SUBCHAPTER 1: FREEDOM OF ACCESS"],"source_url":"https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/1/title1sec401.html","current_through":"January 1, 2026","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-04T15:12:21Z","sha256":"7af6f4c612d778d237823579a665b83b76bdf165dc11e95e8e82d1c23a19d06b","source_id":"us-me","stale":false,"prev":"us-me/1-m.r.s.-400","next":"us-me/1-m.r.s.-402"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}