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Council OKs interim committee webcasting
The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
Members of the Legislative Council unanimously approved today a motion directing staff to begin webcasting interim committee meetings as soon as possible.
The motion the committee approved directs staff to “expeditiously begin webcasting as many interim committee meetings as practicable within budget and scheduling constraints” by means that could include using existing video conferencing systems or the infrastructure already in place to webcast committee meetings held during legislative sessions.
The committee’s motion directs that the webcasts “be produced in substantially the same manner as the webcasts produced during the session,” meaning that only official portions of meetings will be webcast, and there will be no archiving.
Interim committees meet between regular sessions to explore issues and craft legislation that will be considered in the next session. They’ve already been meeting this year.
Normally, those meetings are held around the state to give New Mexicans a chance to have input in the legislative process and give lawmakers a chance to see what’s going on in areas other than their home districts and Santa Fe. But because of the budget crunch, lawmakers decided to hold all interim meetings in Santa Fe this year.
As I reported earlier today, it was state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, who asked legislative leaders to allow webcasting and video conferencing of those meetings.
You can view a list of interim committees, and find schedules of their upcoming meetings, by clicking here.
Update, 1:30 p.m.
Arnold-Jones, who has championed legislative webcasting, said she’s pleased with the council’s decision, which moves the Legislature toward increased accessibility and transparency.
“We’re getting there,” she said.
Update, June 30, 10:20 a.m.
From State Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, who has pushed webcasting legislation in the past:
“This is another step in the right direction. We are always looking for ways to make government more transparent and accessible to the public. Webcasting is a useful service for our constituents.”
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Hopefully, the final update.
Rep Keith Gardner and I have exchanged a number of emails. I have also since learned that, the motion was written by the Legislative Council Services, and the prohibition of archiving was included by them to make the motion consistent with House and Senate Rules.
My use of the word “conspired” was neither accurate nor fair. I apologize to Rep Gardner for mischaracterizing his involvement in the finally wording.
Though Rep Martinez and I have not discussed it, I owe him the same apology for the same reason. Therefore, I apologize to him as well, for my use of the word “conspired”.
I look forward to working with both of them to make robust webcasting to a searchable archive a reality as soon as is possible.
Update on my update; I have done more research and have settled upon House Resolution 1; sponsored by none other than Rep Keith Gardner, here quoted in significant part;
“The live stream shall not be archived.”
and;
The provisions of this rule shall apply when the house is meeting as the committee of the whole and when any standing substantive committee is meeting in the chamber shall not be archived.”
and further; The live video stream shall be produced from cameras configured and operated in such a way that as much of the chamber is displayed as practicable (read; no close ups of their faces, no way to look them in the eyes while they speak)
While there might be nearly inconsequential inaccuracies in my perception of what goes on in secret; I am now confident that my reporting that Gardner is an obstructionist with respect to the single most important aspect of webcasting; archiving, and to webcasting in general (distant cameras a la google earth) requires neither retraction nor apology.
My offer to post his any objection on my blog remains open.
For the record
Update; Rep Keith Gardner has taken exception to my description of his part in this process. I have offered him an opportunity to respond on my blog, and promised him a retraction and apology as appropriate. My investigation will continue.
MJM
I think you might be confusing the meeting of the Legislative Council, where this debate and vote took place, and the Governmental Restructuring Task Force, chaired by Senator Eichenberg. Eichenberg has been asked on a number of occasions to begin webcasting the Task Force meetings and has so far, been non-committal.
I am pleased to see this. Good work Janice Arnold-Jones. I appreciate the efforts of the committee as well and in particular Tim Eichenberg for taking this step. The State of New Mexico will be going through some difficult times. The re-organization of state government will be a difficult process, and I hope that the process is orderly and well thought out.
This is a great step forward. The continued refusal to archive the webcasts rests on the shoulders of Rep Keith Gardner an R, and Rep Ken Martinez a D, who apparently conspired to continue to deny stakeholder the access they deserve.
A little like buying an ambulance with no hospital to take the patient to, but better than nothing.