Congress passed the Government in the Sunshine Act in 1976, regulating the meeting procedures of more than 50 agencies headed by collegial bodies. Henceforth the major federal regulatory commissions and numerous other agencies were required to hold meetings in public unless exempt information was involved. This study examines the effects of the law on agency decision-making processes. It finds that perhaps the most important effect of the sunshine law is to diminish the collegial character of those processes.
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