Mississippi Code
Miss. Code Ann. § 25-41-7 (2026)
Executive sessions
✓ current as of July 2026
- (1) Any public body may enter into executive session for the transaction of public business; however, all meetings of any public body shall commence as an open meeting, and an affirmative vote of three-fifths (3/5) of all members present shall be required to declare an executive session.
- (2) The procedure to be followed by any public body in declaring an executive session shall be as follows: Any member shall have the right to request by motion a closed determination upon the issue of whether or not to declare an executive session. The motion, by majority vote, shall require the meeting to be closed for a preliminary determination of the necessity for executive session. No other business shall be transacted until the discussion of the nature of the matter requiring executive session has been completed and a vote, as required in subsection (1) hereof, has been taken on the issue.
- (3) An executive session shall be limited to matters allowed to be exempted from open meetings by subsection (4) of this section. The reason for holding an executive session shall be stated in an open meeting, and the reason so stated shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require that any meeting be closed to the public, nor shall any executive session be used to circumvent or to defeat the purposes of this chapter.
- (4) A public body may hold an executive session pursuant to this section for one or more of the following reasons:
- (a) Transaction of business and discussion of personnel matters relating to the job performance, character, professional competence, or physical or mental health of a person holding a specific position, or matters relating to the terms of any potential or current employment or services agreement with any physicians or other employees of public hospitals, including any discussion of any person applying for medical staff privileges or membership with a public hospital.
- (b) Strategy sessions or negotiations with respect to prospective litigation, litigation or issuance of an appealable order when an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body.
- (c) Transaction of business and discussion regarding the report, development or course of action regarding security personnel, plans or devices.
- (d) Investigative proceedings by any public body regarding allegations of misconduct or violation of law.
- (e) Any body of the Legislature which is meeting on matters within the jurisdiction of that body.
- (f) Cases of extraordinary emergency which would pose immediate or irrevocable harm or damage to persons or property, or both, within the jurisdiction of the public body.
- (g) Transaction of business and discussion regarding the prospective purchase, sale or leasing of lands.
- (h) Discussions between a school board and individual students who attend a school within the jurisdiction of the school board or the parents or teachers of the students regarding problems of the students or their parents or teachers.
- (i) Transaction of business and discussion concerning the preparation of tests for admission to practice in recognized professions.
- (j) Transaction of business and discussions or negotiations regarding the location, relocation or expansion of a business, medical service or an industry.
- (k) Transaction of business and discussions regarding employment or job performance of a person in a specific position or termination of an employee holding a specific position. The exemption provided by this paragraph includes transaction of business and discussion in executive session by the board of trustees of a public hospital regarding any employee or medical staff member or applicant for medical staff privileges and any such individual's credentialing, health, performance, salary, raises or disciplinary action. The exemption provided by this paragraph includes the right to enter into executive session concerning a line item in a budget which might affect the termination of an employee or employees. All other budget items shall be considered in open meetings and final budgetary adoption shall not be taken in executive session.
- (l) Discussions regarding material or data exempt from the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983 pursuant to Section 25-11-121.
- (m) Transaction of business and discussion regarding prospective strategic business decisions of public hospitals, including without limitation, decisions to open a new service line, implement capital improvements, or file applications for certificates of need or determinations of nonreviewability with the State Department of Health.
- (n) Transaction of business of the boards of trustees of public hospitals that would require discussion of any identifiable patient information, including without limitation, patient complaints, patients' accounts, patients receiving charity care, or treatment that could be identified to a patient.
- (o) Investigative discussions, investigative strategies, probative strategies related to identifiable instances of human trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation, and discussions involving locations of shelters or safe-houses for victims of human trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation.
- (p) Transaction of business of committees, subcommittees or boards that would require discussion of any identifiable information of victims of human trafficking or children under eighteen years old who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
- (5) The total vote on the question of entering into an executive session shall be recorded and spread upon the minutes of the public body.
- (6) Any vote whereby an executive session is declared shall be applicable only to that particular meeting on that particular day.
Laws, 1975, ch. 481, § 4; Laws, 1981, ch. 456, § 1; Laws, 1990, ch. 541, § 1; Laws, 2007, ch. 305, § 2, eff. 3/7/2007.
Amended by Laws, 2021, ch. 393, HB 1323,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2021.
Amended by Laws, 2015, ch. 484, SB 2407, 2, eff. 1/1/2016.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 13
cases, 1983–2017 · leading case: Hinds Cty. Bd. of Sup'rs v. Common Cause, 551 So. 2d 107 (Miss. 1989).
Hinds Cty. Bd. of Sup'rs v. Common Cause, 551 So. 2d 107 (Miss. 1989). “THE TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS Most of the violations in this case involved the Board going into executive session without complying with Miss. Code Ann. § 25-41-7 , set forth in full in Appendix A.”
BD. OF Trs. v. Miss. Publishers Corp., 478 So. 2d 269 (Miss. 1985). “The Board notes an alleged inconsistency within the Act, in that § 25-41-7 provides: The total vote on the question of entering into an executive session shall be recorded and spread upon the minutes of such body.”
Gannett River States Pub. Corp., Inc. v. City of Jackson, 866 So. 2d 462 (Miss. 2004). “Miss.Code Ann. § 25-41-7 (Rev.2003). This Court has previously set forth factors to be considered where, as here, public bodies attempt to use a "social function" to circumvent or *472 defeat the purposes of the Act.”
Ball v. Mayor & Bd. of Aldermen, 983 So. 2d 295 (Miss. 2008). “he 2006 proceeding, Mississippi Code Annotated Section § 25-41-5 provided: (1) All official meetings of any public body, unless otherwise provided in this chapter or in the Constitutions of the United States of America or the State of Mississippi, are declared to be public…”
Mayor of Vicksburg v. Vicksburg Printing & Publ'g Co., 434 So. 2d 1333 (Miss. 1983). “Miss.Code Ann. § 25-41-7 (Supp.1982). The meeting in question clearly related to prospective litigation.”
Miss. State Bd. of Nursing v. Wilson, 624 So. 2d 485 (Miss. 1993). “This argument is devoid of merit because of the "litigation" exception found in § 25-41-7(4)(b) which authorizes a public body to hold executive sessions for the purpose of "[s]trategy sessions or negotiations with respect to prospective litigation, litigation or issuance of an…”
Reading Eagle Co. v. Council of City of Reading, 627 A.2d 305 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1993). “The relevant part of the Mississippi Open Meetings Act, Miss.Code Ann. § 25-41-7(3), Ch. 481, Laws 1975, is essentially identical to our Sunshine Act, stating only that "[t]he reason for holding such an executive session shall be stated in an open meeting.”
Lacroix v. Marshall Cnty. Bd. of Sup'rs, 28 So. 3d 650 (Miss. Ct. App. 2009). “See Miss.Code Ann. § 25-41-7(4) (Rev.2006). ¶ 28.”
LaCroix v. Marshall Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, 28 So. 3d 650 (Miss. Ct. App. 2009). “See Miss.Code Ann. § 25-41-7(4) (Rev.2006). ¶ 28.”
Gannett River States Publ'g Co., Inc. v. City of Jackson, Mississippi (Miss. 2002). “The Legislature has outlined the procedure for holding an executive session in Miss. Code Ann. § 25-41-7 (4). This Court has interpreted that statute and has also outlined the procedure for holding an executive session in Hinds County Board of Supervisors, 551 So.”
Freda Howell v. Bd. of Supervisors of Jefferson Davis Cnty., Mississippi, 179 So. 3d 34 (Miss. Ct. App. 2015). “2010) (establishing open-meetings requirements for public boards and public meetings); Miss. Code Ann. § 25-41-7 (Rev. 2010) (establishing exemptions from open-meetings requirements and setting forth what a public body may address in executive session); Miss.”
Gwendolyn E. Ball v. City of Natchez, Mississippi (Miss. 2006). “(2) A public body may conduct any meeting, other than an executive session called pursuant to Section 25-41-7, wherein public business is discussed or transacted, through teleconference or video means.”
— Miss. Code Ann. § 25-41-7(3) — 1 case
Reading Eagle Co. v. Council of City of Reading, 627 A.2d 305 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 1993). “The relevant part of the Mississippi Open Meetings Act, Miss.Code Ann. § 25-41-7(3), Ch. 481, Laws 1975, is essentially identical to our Sunshine Act, stating only that "[t]he reason for holding such an executive session shall be stated in an open meeting.”
— Miss. Code Ann. § 25-41-7(4) — 6 cases
BD. OF Trs. v. Miss. Publishers Corp., 478 So. 2d 269 (Miss. 1985). “The Board notes an alleged inconsistency within the Act, in that § 25-41-7 provides: The total vote on the question of entering into an executive session shall be recorded and spread upon the minutes of such body.”
Gannett River States Pub. Corp., Inc. v. City of Jackson, 866 So. 2d 462 (Miss. 2004). “Miss.Code Ann. § 25-41-7 (Rev.2003). This Court has previously set forth factors to be considered where, as here, public bodies attempt to use a "social function" to circumvent or *472 defeat the purposes of the Act.”
Hinds Cty. Bd. of Sup'rs v. Common Cause, 551 So. 2d 107 (Miss. 1989). “THE TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS Most of the violations in this case involved the Board going into executive session without complying with Miss. Code Ann. § 25-41-7 , set forth in full in Appendix A.”
Lacroix v. Marshall Cnty. Bd. of Sup'rs, 28 So. 3d 650 (Miss. Ct. App. 2009). “See Miss.Code Ann. § 25-41-7(4) (Rev.2006). ¶ 28.”
LaCroix v. Marshall Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, 28 So. 3d 650 (Miss. Ct. App. 2009). “See Miss.Code Ann. § 25-41-7(4) (Rev.2006). ¶ 28.”
— Miss. Code Ann. § 25-41-7(4)(a) — 1 case
BD. OF Trs. v. Miss. Publishers Corp., 478 So. 2d 269 (Miss. 1985). “The Board notes an alleged inconsistency within the Act, in that § 25-41-7 provides: The total vote on the question of entering into an executive session shall be recorded and spread upon the minutes of such body.”
— Miss. Code Ann. § 25-41-7(4)(b) — 2 cases
Mayor of Vicksburg v. Vicksburg Printing & Publ'g Co., 434 So. 2d 1333 (Miss. 1983). “Miss.Code Ann. § 25-41-7 (Supp.1982). The meeting in question clearly related to prospective litigation.”
Miss. State Bd. of Nursing v. Wilson, 624 So. 2d 485 (Miss. 1993). “This argument is devoid of merit because of the "litigation" exception found in § 25-41-7(4)(b) which authorizes a public body to hold executive sessions for the purpose of "[s]trategy sessions or negotiations with respect to prospective litigation, litigation or issuance of an…”
— Miss. Code Ann. § 25-41-7(4)(k) — 1 case
BD. OF Trs. v. Miss. Publishers Corp., 478 So. 2d 269 (Miss. 1985). “The Board notes an alleged inconsistency within the Act, in that § 25-41-7 provides: The total vote on the question of entering into an executive session shall be recorded and spread upon the minutes of such body.”
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