The article studies the problems of ensuring the openness and publicity of public discussions, taking into account the proposals and opinions of their participants and other issues of legal regulation of this area. In the study, legislative acts and practices of their application, foreign practice and scientific views in this area were studied, and sociological surveys were conducted. The author investigated the practice of holding public discussions by non-governmental organizations, citizens’ self-government bodies and the media, as well as state bodies, and sought to clarify the concept of “public discussions”. The article proves that the nationwide discussion of bills is a kind of public discussion, and the effectiveness of using online technologies in this process. The regularity of public discussion of draft legal acts in the study is associated with a detailed regulation of this process. With this in mind, recommendations were developed on the legal regulation of public discussions on other issues of social importance. Based on the results of the study, the author put forward practical proposals for the development of general rules for conducting public discussions, including the provision by state bodies of replies to the proposals of the participants in the discussion.